Scenes From a Reversal: Path of Shadows
by Higuchimon
Summary: [50/50, 50scenes LJ challenge, complete, genfic, Marufuji Ryou, au: reversal] Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.
1. First Step

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From A Reversal: Bloodpaths: 1:50: First Step  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 937  
**Genre:** Supernatural, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: prompt: calculate  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

The very real possibility that he had, or would, lose his mind doing this had occurred to Ryou more than once in the last few hours. To be accurate, it had occurred to him more than once in the last four months since they had begun to first put the idea together. He would enter Hell itself, and not simply the Hell of ruthlessness and unyielding lust for power. He would enter a Hell that had the simple goal of ruling, if not utterly destroying, the world itself, and the master of that Hell was a being that killed without mercy.

_There is no other way._ Perhaps if there had been...no. They needed this information. They _had_ to know. Edo refused to show a hint of concern about anyone, but Ryou knew him better than that. Edo was worried. Edo had _been_ worried since that day two years earlier when the remnants of a patrol led by Johan had returned without Johan.

Guardian Baou had laid a trap and Johan had sprung it. Unconscious, deprived of his deck in seconds, that was what the survivors had reported. Then chained and taken away, not to be seen again by any of them until only weeks earlier.

But there were rumors. So _many_ rumors, and Ryou wasn't willing to believe any of them. There was no way that Johan Andersen would turn traitor willingly to their cause.

That led him right to where he was now, making his preparations and contemplating how likely it was that he was going to lose his sanity because of this.

If that was what it took to learn the truth, then so be it. His own life didn't matter. Finding out what had happened and getting that information back to Edo and the others, that was what mattered.

He had the code for his messages memorized. Misawa had worked it out, with Taniya's help, and they had both drilled Ryou in it for weeks on end, until he could have written or translated messages in his sleep. There was still so much that he couldn't know yet. There was always the chance that everything would simply _go wrong_, that he would be killed without question, and never have the chance to get the information that he wanted.

No matter. If that happened, he wouldn't be around to fret about it afterward. He would do everything that was within his power, and that was all that he _could_ do.

He looked over his deck one last time. Cyber Dark Edge, Cyber Dark Horn, Cyber Dark Keel, Cyber Dark Dragon, Cyber Dragon, and Cyber End Dragon...they were all there, all waiting for him to use them to kill to prove himself. Perhaps to kill people he had fought beside already.

They understood the risks, just as he did. Anyone who didn't accept that they could die had no business being in a war in the first place.

"Hell Kaiser." Edo stood in the doorway and Ryou turned to look at him. "The General's been spotted. It's time."

Ryou nodded. He followed Edo out, and caught sight of Shou as they walked down the corridor that led to the briefing room. His brother looked at him, concern written in his gray eyes. Ryou said nothing. He didn't belong to this rebellion anymore. He couldn't. Every word he spoke before the Haou, if he even got that far, had to be truth.

_Power. Nothing but power._ Shou couldn't help him get power. Shou would only hold him back.

Power would get him what he wanted. And if he had to serve the Haou and kill those who fought for the good of the world, then he would do it.

Better him than them, anyway.

**The End**

**Notes:** Each scene will have 'the end' on it, though together, they form part of the real story. The scenes themselves are disconnected, will be posted completely out of order, and pretty much in order that I get inspired to write in. So, the next one I post could take place years later or be in someone else's point of view or who knows what I might do. I really want to know what you think about this.


	2. Unbroken by Agony

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From A Reversal: Bloodpaths: 2:50: Unbroken by Agony  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 528  
**Genre:** Supernatural, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: prompt: pain  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Steel manacles bit into Ryou's wrists, but he paid them little attention. After everything that had happened, he'd grown used to being chained. He didn't _like_ it, but since there was scarcely a moment anymore when he wasn't, he was used to it.

The cell door creaked open, and he wondered who it was this time. It couldn't be dinner. He thought it was too early for that.

Haou's hand was colder than ice when he touched Ryou's back. Ryou tensed without wanting to; being hurt when Haou was there was something else that he'd grown used to. But that did tell him what time it was: torture time.

"You've been in here two months." To be truthful, Ryou wasn't certain of how long he'd been there. He'd _thought_ it was two months, but without being able to see the sun or sky, he couldn't tell. "And you haven't broken yet."

That could not possibly have been respect in Haou's voice. The words were true, though. Oh, he'd answered Haou's questions, because there was no need to lie about them. Yes, he'd been sent to spy, to learn what had happened to Johan. No, he no longer knew where the rebellion was located, because they'd moved everything after he'd infiltrated. They'd anticipated what was going on right now. The answers he'd given had won him no surcease from his agony. He was, after all, a spy.

"Two months." Haou didn't appear to want an answer. That was fine with Ryou. Conversation had never been his strength anyway. "And you haven't learned anything."

Pain arced into Ryou from where Haou's hand touched him, every nerve lit on fire at the same time. He thrashed and struggled in the chains, his throat aching with scream after scream. He had learned not to hold them back. Haou only made the pain worse if he did that.

"Johan has tasted my pain before. I had to educate him, just as I am educating you. He chose pleasure in the end." Haou almost seemed to laugh at that as the barrage of torture ended. Ryou stored that fact away in the vain hope that he would be able to pass it on to the resistance. He didn't _understand_ it, but he would do what he could to remember it nevertheless. "But that isn't a choice that I'm going to offer you."

Ryou gulped for air until he was able to speak, his voice cracked and hoarse. "I wouldn't take it if you did." He expected Haou to kill him. _Everyone_ expected that. It was what he did to people who angered him. Or people he had no use for in general.

"I didn't think that you would. But I'm not going to kill you, either." Ryou couldn't see him; the dark overlord stayed behind him at all times. He wished he could; he wanted to know what was going through the other's mind at the moment. "You've earned something worse than death. She'll be here soon."

"What?" Ryou didn't expect an answer and didn't get one this time. The cell door closed with only the mildest of scrapes and he hung there, wondering.

**The End**


	3. Denied Sleep

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From A Reversal: Bloodpaths: 3:50: Denied Sleep  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 610  
**Genre:** Supernatural, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: prompt: rose  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

No. He didn't want to go back. It wasn't the pain. He understood pain and accepted it. If it were _only_ the pain that he had suffered before, he would go back and fear nothing. Pain couldn't break him, and he knew it better than anyone.

_She_ called him back, and that was why he didn't want to go. Her mocking smile, her derisive laughter, the promise made by _him_ and _her_ that he would never again know freedom, would spend his life, or whatever he had in place of life, doing what _she_ wanted him to do.

He struggled. He fought. He didn't care what lay on the other side of life and death, so long as he didn't go back to that world. Punishment or paradise meant nothing to him.

"Come back, my child." Her voice, wrapping around his will, sapping at his strength. His throat burned with thirst and he fought to deny it. "Come back."

He shook his head, though he didn't know if the movement registered or was only in his thoughts. "No." The same went for the word. Did he speak it or was it only an intent? It didn't matter, because there was no response, only the insistent demand that he rise up, that he open his eyes and live again.

The gray mist that surrounded him spun and if he had been standing, he might not have been able to keep to his feet. He thought he was on his back, but in this realm of between, not one thing or another, it didn't make that much of a difference.

"Rise. Awaken. You cannot defy me." But he could. He would. He had to, no matter the cost. He knew what they had planned, and he wanted no part of this. The war was over for him. He would miss many people, images that flashed through his mind relentlessly, but better he be gone than to take part in it as they wished him to.

His throat burned once more, a single drop of burning blood that set all of his own blood aflame as it coursed through him. His resistance screamed and burned and again the voice called. "Rise up, child. Rise and serve me."

He had seen nothing but the mist. Now it parted, and his eyes opened, revealing a chamber that he knew well: the empty, cold cell that he had spent so much time in since his capture. At first he saw nothing and no one else. Then _awareness_ flung itself on him and he saw _her_.

She smiled the moment his eyes focused on her and reached out one slender hand to pet his head. "Welcome back, my child." Her lips were red. Was that his blood on them? How long had he been gone?

A brief gesture from her did nothing to answer his questions, but it did bring someone else into view. Confusion still reigned over his mind, but when he saw one of the guards there, holding onto a monster that he thought looked a little familiar, understanding of a sort dawned. His attention flicked back to her.

"I'm hungry." Those were the only two words he spoke, and all the ones that mattered at the moment. His stomach burned with starvation and he knew that the prisoner there was _food_. Something was different in his mouth, something that felt like...teeth.

She brushed her fingers through his hair again. "Eat, then, my child. This is your dinner."

Hell Kaiser licked his lips, then darted forward to seize the captive and sink his fangs into the inviting throat, and for the first time, he fed.

**The End**


	4. In His Tracks

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From A Reversal: Bloodpaths: 4:50: In His Tracks  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 875  
**Genre:** Supernatural, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: prompt: escape  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

"Haou-sama wants you in the throne room, Hell Kaiser." Noble d'Noir spoke from the doorway and Ryou nodded as he rose to his feet.

_It must be time for another mission._ Six months had given him plenty of time to grow used to what he did for Haou. He paid little attention to the monster that followed as they walked through the dark stone corridors that led to the throne room. He did see Noble d'Noir's smile, however, and a chill wandered down his spine at the sight. Something wasn't right. Noble d'Noir never smiled like that without cause.

_He must expect me to fail on whatever it is Haou wants us to do._ That was to be expected. The strong devoured the weak in this army, and if Ryou turned out not to be strong enough, then Noble d'Noir would be promoted to his position, literally over Ryou's dead body.

The rest of the company, made up equally of humans and monsters, stood in the throne room, and parted to allow Ryou to enter. He strode up between them without a glance to either side until he arrived before Haou's throne. He dropped down to one knee and bent his head.

"You sent for me, Haou-sama?" The honorific tasted like poison on his tongue, but it was part of his cover. Those who didn't show Haou proper respect died in agony.

He didn't look up; he didn't need to. He knew what he would see. Juudai on his throne, dressed in shades of black and red, with Johan by his side, as loyal as a mastiff.

"Yes, Hell Kaiser." As always, Haou's voice held all but no emotion. What there was in it today sent another chill through Ryou. "I seem to have uncovered a problem. We have a spy in our ranks."

Ice cemented itself in Ryou's stomach. He refused to flinch for as much as a second. He was a duelist. He would not give himself away. "If you wish me to kill them, I will." It wouldn't be the first time he'd done something like that to keep his cover, or the last.

"No, I don't think that will be necessary." Haou's golden eyes burned into him and Ryou still refused to twitch. He wouldn't give himself away. "I have more interesting plans for how to punish this fool."

He could hear the rest of the company moving behind him. He didn't bother to look; his ears told him what he needed to know. They were in between him and the door. Just fleeing for his life would betray too much, and he wasn't the type to surrender without a fight in the first place. He'd die before going down like a meek mouse.

"Why am I involved in this, then?" Ryou asked. There was always the chance that someone _else_ had infiltrated Haou's army and that this wasn't about him at all. Though he wasn't going to entertain that hope to the point of idiocy.

"Because of this." A far too familiar scrap of paper fluttered down in front of him, written in his own handwriting, in the code that Misawa had given him. There were faint smears of dirt on it and traces that might've been a footprint. "Read it, Hell Kaiser. Out loud, for all of us."

His hands tightened into fists. _How did they find it?_ No matter. What remained was getting out of there in one piece.

"Read it, Hell Kaiser." A whip of black energy struck across his face, sending a trickle of blood down it. Hell Kaiser's head shot up and he glared at Haou, who hadn't moved an inch from his throne. "You've been so loyal for six months. Surely you don't want to end your career with _disobedience_."

Light footsteps, so light that someone else might not have heard them, had they not been listening as hard as he was, moved up closer. It was Noble d'Noir.

He didn't bother answering. Instead, he slammed his elbow back against the zombie monster, grabbed him by one arm, and flung him into the gathering throng of monsters. He started for the door, ready to fight his way through all of them if he had to.

"Johan." Haou's voice was quiet and calm and the ice of fear within Ryou redoubled at the sound of it. "Our guest is attempting to leave. Stop him."

The words almost hadn't had time to fade before Johan stood in front of Ryou. He said nothing at all, but only backhanded Ryou as hard as he could. The taller duelist spun backward, and before he regained his bearings, Noble d'Noir was on top of him, pinning him down with his weight.

_Cyber Dragon!_ Ryou's struggles grew fierce with each moment, sweat dripping down as more and more of the monsters threw themselves down, keeping him from moving. "I summon…"

"Nothing." Johan stood where Ryou could see him, and now Hell Kaiser saw his deck in the General's hands. Ryou tried to lunge, but a dozen warriors kept him from moving more than an inch or two.

Haou stood beside Johan now, the faintest of smiles on his pale lips. "You'll pay for your foolishness, Hell Kaiser. Take him away."

**The End**


	5. Pale Reflection

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From A Reversal: Bloodpaths: 5:50: Pale Reflection  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 893  
**Genre:** Supernatural, Drama||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: prompt: glory  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

"Kill them all." Haou's voice seldom had emotion in it, even to Ryou's ears, now sharper and more attentive to the nuances in such things. He remained in his place, watching as the company surged past him to break the barriers of the village and pour through the muddy lanes. Duels broke out all over as Haou's troops located warriors. Those who weren't capable of fighting had another fate in store for them.

"He's there. I can see him, next to the Haou." The whispers came from the bushes several yards away. Ryou's eyes flicked there for a brief moment, then back to the slaughter unfolding before him. He refused to give away anything if he could avoid it.

A different voice this time. "I think he saw us. He looked this way, didn't he?" They weren't voices he recognized. Ryou was grateful for that. He'd seen enough faces he knew standing against him.

They knew him, though. After the last four months, he wasn't surprised at that. He was famous, after all. Infamous might be the better word.

Haou's vampire, they called him. It was true enough, and the thought sent black bile surging through him. If only he could kill her. If someone would kill her, and free him from this bondage.

"Hell Kaiser." _Now_ emotion tinged Haou's voice, and Ryou raised his eyes to look at his…captor. Another word slid through his mind, but he would not think it. Not at all. "Choose."

No need for explanation, or even for that brief movement of an armored hand. Ryou turned his gaze toward the gathered prisoners, scenting their fear. He had always thought that was something of a cliché, but acrid fear did indeed tinge the air as he stepped closer to them.

Men, women, children, they were all there, humans and Duel Monsters alike. He dismissed the children out of hand; he was a monster himself, but he had standards.

He had no real preference for male or female, so his gaze brushed by each of them. He couldn't take too long; Haou didn't appreciate it when he stretched out the choice. One young man, probably in his late teens or early twenties, caught his eye. Ryou gestured to him.

"That one." The chosen one was a bit on the thin and weedy side, but Ryou chose him for that reason. The strong had to survive.

Two servants leaped over and began to drag the teen over to Ryou. Before they'd taken more than a few steps, a cry rang out and a young woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd. "No! Leave Maruchii alone!"

Another pair of servants took hold of her before she came any closer. Ryou had his attention more on the one he'd chosen and was about to claim his meal when Haou spoke.

"Wait a moment, Hell Kaiser." The very faintest hint of curiosity had entered his voice this time. That wasn't all that Ryou heard, though, and he didn't like what he thought it was. "Why should he be spared?"

"If you want to _eat someone_ from here, then you can have me! Maruchii doesn't deserve to be a vampire's lunch!" She was taller than Ryou's chosen captive, with long dark blue hair, fire in her eyes, and her right arm wrapped in a heavy cast and sling. "Let him alone!"

Haou's lips curved into a dark smile as he glanced at Ryou. "As you wish, then." He jerked his head toward the girl. "Take her."

"No!" This time the boy protested. "Rei, stay out of this! He wanted m-me first. Y-you should-" He broke off as Ryou pushed him away and turned toward the other. Ryou glanced over her for a moment and frowned.

"You're a duelist." One finger gestured to the duel deck on her belt. The bandaged arm explained why she hadn't been fighting, of course.

"If you had the courage, then I would make you duel me instead of drinking my blood!" Rei raised her head and stared into his eyes. "But since you're just a _monster_, I won't even bother."

Ryou's hand dropped to his own deck, and Haou's voice cracked across the field before he could do anything more. "_Feed_."

Pain shot through his mind, eclipsing conscious thought. He seized hold of Rei's shoulder with one hand, bent her head to the side with the other, and sank his fangs into her neck. He was somewhat aware that the boy was trying to stop him, beating on his back and shoulders with ineffective blows, but nothing mattered beyond the blood going down his throat.

When his thirst was satisfied, Ryou dropped Rei to the ground and returned to Haou's side. Sobbing echoed in his ears, probably the boy, Maruchii. A strange name, that.

"Did you see that? Is she dead? I can't tell from here." The voices in the bushes again.

"Keep quiet! We can find out later." A brief pause. "He's worse than I thought."

"I heard he used to be a great duelist, once. Terrifying, merciless. Now look at him. Haou's puppet vampire."

Ryou couldn't close his ears to what he heard. One part of him screamed to mention their existence to Haou. Another part demanded that he stay quiet for now. Their time would come.

And yet a third agreed with them.

**The End**


	6. Obedience

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 6-50: Obedience  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 672  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: relax  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Golden eyes gleamed at him from the darkened throne room as he followed _her_ into it. Tension knotted his shoulders, but he refused to let it show. Whatever else happened, or had happened, he was Hell Kaiser. He wouldn't show any weakness to his enemy.

"And what have we here?" Haou's lips lifted into something that was an unholy cross of a sneer and a smirk. Camula gestured for Ryou to stop, and against his will (for there was nothing more he wished to do than be gone, preferably leaving their lifeless bodies behind him) he obeyed.

"A traitor, Haou-sama." Camula replied, her own lips twisted as well. "But not one against you any longer."

Haou nodded, and Ryou wondered if he were strong enough now to break the bastard's neck. There was only one way to find out. His muscles tensed for the briefest of moments. He tried not to even think about what he was doing, for fear that she would know it.

"Stay where you are." Carelessness tinged her voice and Ryou found his body locking into place, unable to move so much as a step. She turned her attention back to Haou. "As you can see, he obeys me."

Haou nodded, approval in those hideous eyes now. "Yet he isn't mindless." It was a statement, not a question, and the simple fact of it burned through Ryou's blood.

"No. He is well aware of what I've done to him, and what I will continue to do to him." Camula reached behind her to run her fingers through Ryou's hair. "Relax, my little doll. You have nothing to fear, so long as you _obey_."

Relaxation was the farthest thought from Ryou's mind, but the tension eased away from him nevertheless. He couldn't speak yet; she'd already ordered him not to do so unless and until someone granted him permission.

"Lovely." Haou circled around Ryou, much as he had when the spy had hung helpless in the torture chambers. "He will obey you without question?"

"Yes. Was there something you wished him to do for you, Haou-sama?" Camula caressed Ryou's hair again. "Anything you wish my doll to do, he will do."

If the day came where he could sink _his_ fangs into _her_ throat and tear it out, Ryou swore at that moment that he would. He could only imagine what nightmares Haou would ask of her and that he would have to perform, regardless of his desires.

Haou did not answer, however. Instead, he stared into Ryou's eyes. "You want to kill me," he said, his voice even and calm. "You want to tear me apart and make me suffer." He glanced toward Camula, who nodded, then back toward Ryou himself. "Answer me."

Ryou truly did not want to. He didn't want to give voice to all the surging hate that had replaced his flesh and bones. Choices were no longer his own, however. "Yes." He kept it as brief as he could.

A small smile tilted Haou's lips upward. Camula laughed at the same time, then leaned over to whisper into the dark monarch's ear. Ryou wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what they spoke of or not. He became more certain that he didn't when Haou nodded, that small smile becoming more demonic as he did.

Camula gestured for his attention and Ryou turned toward her. Her eyes glowed brilliant scarlet, and all else faded away as her voice filled his ears. "From this moment on, you will obey Haou as you would me. He is your master." Ryou's eyes darted over to Haou, hate without measure filling him. Haou spoke a single word.

"Kneel."

His body obeyed before his mind truly comprehended the word, and once he realized where he was and why, a second oath forged diamond-hard in his heart and soul.

Or whatever heart and soul an undead abomination had.

_I'll kill him._

Haou's dark chuckle echoed around him. "Relax. Enjoy your new life, Hell Kaiser. Or should I say, my executioner?"

**The End**


	7. Convincing Haou

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 7-50: Convincing Haou  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 676  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: gasp  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Prisoner he might be, but Hell Kaiser walked with his head held high, not looking to the left or right as he followed Johan through the corridors of Haou's castle. Johan didn't move with such speed that Ryou couldn't keep up either. The older duelist suspected that was some small form of thanks for what had happened earlier.

_He's so different._ That was something of an understatement. Johan's clothes alone were a mark of how he had changed from the days when they had fought side by side in the resistance.

He couldn't focus on Johan, not just yet, however. What had occurred earlier was just phase one of this mission. Now was the most dangerous section: surviving the inevitable encounter with Haou.

The moment they passed the throne room's threshold, cries and boos echoed from one corner of it to the other. "Rebel!" "Fool!" "Crap Kaiser!" All of that and more sprang from the throats of the humans and monsters gathered together.

Ryou halted where he was, ignoring the tug on the chains as Johan kept going for another step or two. He turned toward the crowd, one eyebrow quirked up. For all the world, he looked more as if a vaguely interesting question had been asked of him than if he were surrounded by over a hundred beings of various shapes and forms that would like nothing better than to kill him in a variety of interesting ways.

"You said what?" His attention was on a Flame Manipulator, who pushed his way through the crowd to stand before the captive.

"I said, _Crap Kaiser_! You're not as high and mighty now as you were when you killed Masaki, are you?" Heat flickered about him, but Hell Kaiser didn't move a muscle. Flame Manipulator stepped forward, one fist balled up. "You _burn_ just like anyone else does, I bet!"

There was no challenge. Ryou's hands shot forward and seized Flame Manipulator around the neck. He said nothing at all, only slammed the man's head against the wall, pushing aside those who stood between him and it.

Fire rippled around Ryou's hands and arms as he continued to hit, but the spells did not last long. He dropped Flame Manipulator's body and turned back toward Johan.

"Let's go." The dark General said nothing at all about what Ryou had done, only turned to guide him the last few feet to where Haou observed all that went on in his throne room.

Ryou could not fold his arms over his chest, given the bindings on them, but he kept his head held high as he and Johan stopped before the throne. Johan knelt, a strange kind of joy evident in his submission to Haou, and at his master's brief gesture, spoke of how Hell Kaiser had come to be his prisoner.

"What prompted this?" Haou asked once Johan finished speaking. "_I_ was under the impression that any of my warriors was to be destroyed on sight by your resistance. Especially my General."

Danger laced those words. If Ryou faltered for so much as a moment, then everything could fall apart. He would not let that happen. He stared into those golden eyes as they bored into him. "They are. But what the resistance wants no longer matters to me. I saved him for one purpose only: in order to be able to offer my services to you, Haou-sama."

All around him, monsters and humans murmured among themselves; Ryou suspected they didn't believe a word of what he said. So be it; he didn't care if _they_ did or not. His purpose was only to convince Haou.

The dark overlord continued to stare at him, his eyes glowing for a moment or two before he rose to his feet. "Take him to the dungeons. I'll decide what to do with him later." He gestured to Johan and the two left. Ryou kept his expression neutral; finding out what that was about was why he was there.

He would do anything to accomplish that mission. Even kill without mercy.

**The End**


	8. Cold Winter's Night

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 8-50: Cold Winter's Night  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 689  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: Christmas  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Snow and cold meant nothing to Ryou anymore, neither obstacle nor pleasure. He moved through it as if it were nothing, his head down, but his ears perked and ready for any sound that might mean prey was in the area.

Tonight he would stay out as long as he could. Haou had granted him that much freedom, in return for his 'good service'. Tonight was the night of the winter solstice as well. A vampire's night, if there ever was such a thing.

_Everyone must be inside because of the weather._ Snow already touched his ankles, and the sky was dark with clouds still. _I have to find someone._

As if the thought had called up the sounds, only moments later he heard crunching through the snow. Ryou slipped without hesitation into the nearest shadow cast by a clump of boulders. Whoever it was, be it one of Haou's warriors, a rebel, or a civilian, they would fall prey to his fangs.

Once again, Camula's curse would wreak its will upon him.

He closed his eyes and paid attention only to what his ears and nose could tell him. The approaching victim was human and male, as well as being quite healthy. Just what he needed.

A few moments passed, and the stranger walked by Ryou's place of concealment. As soon as he was a few steps beyond, the vampire struck, seizing the other's arms and pulling him closer in a grip few could break.

"What the …" That voice. If Ryou had been just a little hungrier, he might not have recognized it. But as it was, the familiar tone struck him in the heart.

He swallowed for a moment, even as he twisted his captive around. _Is it…him…_

Pale blue eyes met those of light, confused lavender.

"Fujiwara."

"Ryou."

Anything coherent vanished from Ryou's mind for those few seconds as they stared at one another. Fujiwara lifted one hand as best that he could and Ryou shook his head, stepping away and pushing the other away as he did.

"I…you're…" Apparently coherent thought was still a little beyond Fujiwara as well. Not that Ryou could blame him. What could either of them say right now that made sense?

"You shouldn't be out here." Ryou decided that was the best way to handle this. "You're lucky I fed earlier."

"Fed?" Fujiwara repeated the word, his brow furrowed, then his eyes widened. "That's right. You're a …"

Ryou nodded, glad the other had realized it. "You're in my hunting territory." Granted, anywhere he was released into or walked counted as his territory, but if it kept Fujiwara away from here, this range that was far too close to Haou's castle, then he would lie until his tongue turned black.

Fujiwara opened his mouth, then closed it again, but still stared at Ryou. One hand reached out to brush across the vampire's. Ryou could have moved before it connected, but chose not to. How long had it been since he'd touched a human being and hadn't wanted to feed from them?

"I was looking for you anyway. I knew you'd be around here somewhere."

Ryou blinked once, twice, again. He could not have heard that properly. Fujiwara nodded, as if reading his mind. His hand slid around Ryou's, and paper crinkled for a moment.

_A note? A gift?_ Ryou didn't move at first, then he pulled his hand away, dropping the paper to the ground.

"Don't do this again, Fujiwara. I don't work for your resistance any longer." He chose his words with the utmost of care. "Don't ever come back here again. I'll spare your life this once, but if I see you around here, you won't get that same gift."

His fangs itched; hunger roiled within him. He needed the fresh taste of blood pouring down his throat. But he turned away nevertheless.

Winter solstice was a time of exchanging gifts, in a custom whose origins no one remembered. But there was no gift Ryou could take from Fujiwara, and only one he could give him.

He walked away, letting the snow and the shadows hide him.

**The End**


	9. Exercise Caution

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 9-50: Exercise Caution  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 713  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: angel  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

In Ryou's opinion, those who said that someone had the 'voice of an angel' had never heard a Drunken Angel caroling out a drinking song at the top of his lungs. Off-key. Without a hint of indication that this particular Drunken Angel knew what 'key' was in the first place.

_I'm doing the world a favor._ Ryou told himself. He thought that perhaps Fubuki might agree, to some extent. Not that he was going to track his old friend down and inform him that one less horrible singer existed in the world.

Drunken Angel (if he had a personal name, Ryou didn't know it and cared even less) kept on singing and drinking. Ryou had no idea of what he was celebrating or mourning, so long as it meant he could have his meal in relative peace. He slid through the shadows until he stood next to his prey. For all that the angel even noticed he was there, Ryou might as well have walked up with the accompaniment of a brass band.

At least, that was what Ryou thought, until the blond looked up and focused on him. "You don't wanna do that," Drunken Angel mumbled. "Really bad for you, vampire."

Ryou didn't bother to say anything in return. He never liked to argue with his food. He knocked the angel's bottle away and seized him by the collar, dragging him up to his feet and tilting his head to the side. Putting all other thoughts out of his mind, Ryou bit down hard on the exposed vein and began to suck the blood as it flowed outward.

_What the hell has he been **drinking**?_ He kept on drinking, though every instinct he had made him want to stop and spit it all out, then go and find someone who was sober. Pickings had been slim as of late, with fewer people being inclined to incur Haou's wrath. That meant less pre-given food and more having to hunt for himself. Ryou was of two minds about that.

At the moment, however, he was of one mind as he reached his limit. His head spun in a not very pleasant fashion, and he wanted to either wash his mouth out or brush his teeth or both. His legs quivered underneath him and he dropped the angel to the ground. He wiped his mouth and shot a perturbed glare at his meal before whirling and stalking away.

Or at least he attempted to stalk. With each step, it was a bit more like a stagger. Something like what the very Drunken Angel he'd just left behind would have done. Ryou did not want to make that comparison. It was bad enough that he could hardly see straight and thinking in a coherent fashion was out of the question.

"Told you it would be bad for you." The words floated from behind him; he'd thought he'd already left the other behind. He wasn't certain of why, but he hadn't gone as far as he thought he had. Perhaps it had something to do with that stagger that he wasn't staggering.

Everything danced around him in a way that sent his stomach reeling as it hadn't since he'd been revived. Blood didn't _make_ him sick; he'd be a sorry vampire if he was nauseous every time he had to eat. But 'sick' was what he was right now.

"What the hell did you do to me?" He tried to glare again at Drunken Angel and wondered when the other had sprouted a couple of twin brothers. He hoped they wouldn't all start singing. His head throbbed just at the thought of it.

"Nothing. You did it to yourself." Ryou thought the one in the middle was the one he'd fed from. Though for some reason, they all had his bite marks on their necks.

He was about to declare this was nonsense, it had to have been the angel's fault, when something clicked in the hazy bits of his mind. _Drunken_ Angel. He'd drunk that blood, and…

Ryou seldom groaned out loud. This was one of those times. He had to get this tainted blood out of his system and find someone who knew what being sober meant and the sooner he did so, the better.

**The End**


	10. Harder Than Stone

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 10-50: Harder Than Stone  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 716  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: power  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Ryou didn't bother to look up when he heard the door open. It was either Haou returning for another round of torture or the slave who provided his meals. Neither one interested him. Yet those footsteps were familiar, and he found that he wasn't surprised to hear Noble D'Noir's voice.

"You're not all that favored anymore, are you, _spy_?" The undead creature chuckled. Ryou still didn't look up. Noble D'Noir was…had been…his second in command. Apparently gloating over a chained up prisoner was one of his new duties. Or perhaps he saw it as a perk.

One hand closed on Ryou's chin and forced his head up so that he was unable to avoid staring at those mocking dark eyes. In that, however, they were still warmer and less frightening than Haou's shimmering eyes of gold.

"I command _my_ troops now," the dark undead told him, the emphasis plain. Not that Ryou was surprised at that. "I even have a commendation from Haou-sama, for being the one to uncover _you_."

Ryou shifted his gaze and found a spot on the far wall to look at instead. He said nothing, though. He had nothing at all to say to this one. Or to anyone else, though he was certain he would once again speak if or when Haou entered the torture cell.

Noble D'Noir's long-fingered blue hand struck him across the face. A sharp metallic scent wafted into Ryou's nose a moment later, and he licked his lips as he felt something trickle down his cheek. _Blood_. He'd never tasted it before. Interesting. It really did taste like copper.

"I'm going to make you scream, human." A clear promise touched the words, and Ryou still paid more attention to the spot on the wall than to Noble D'Noir. Pain? This fool didn't know what pain was. Let him try all he liked.

Noble D'Noir's hands wrapped around Ryou's neck for a brief moment and then began to tighten. This time, Ryou spoke, while he still had breath to do so. "Kill me and Haou will make _you_ scream."

The monster laughed, his fingers tightening even more. "You must expect me to be as stupid as you are. Haou won't care if I dispose of a traitor and a spy. You're weak and the weak will always be destroyed first!"

Again the grip tightened, until spots floated before Ryou's eyes and he could no longer be certain that the darkness around him was because of the lightlessness of the cell or the lack of air in his lungs. _I never thought…I would die like this…_

Granted, it was better than becoming what _Johan_ had.

Pain of a different kind shot through him, and air rushed through Ryou's lungs when he had least expected it to. It took another few moments before he realized what he was seeing.

Haou stood a few feet away, golden eyes smoldering, with Noble D'Noir at his feet. The dark overlord didn't act as if he even noticed Ryou's return to sensibility.

"What were my orders concerning this prisoner?" Haou's voice was calm. If Noble D'Noir had any sense (which Ryou doubted, given what he'd just tried to do) then he would recognize what that meant.

"That he wasn't to be killed." The dark monster replied, his words a bit subdued. Then he flared up, snapping, "But he's a spy, Haou-sama! You're going to kill him anyway! I wanted to spare you the trouble!"

Haou said nothing, only continued to stare at the monster with those deadly eyes. Whatever was going on behind those eyes was impossible to read. Ryou didn't doubt for a moment that it would be horrific in the end. When Haou gestured for Noble D'Noir to rise and precede him out of the cell, Ryou remained quiet. Haou glanced back toward him, and their eyes met.

For a single moment, Haou's lips bent into something that was neither a smile nor a smirk. It was only an expression without any soft emotion behind it. Ryou knew what he wanted and he would not give it.

_I will not thank him._ He turned his gaze away to the far side again. His neck ached, but it meant nothing. He heard the door close and lock and knew he was alone again.

**The End**


	11. Where He Belongs

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 11-50: Where He Belongs  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 616  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: pure (replacing syringe)  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Camula listened to what Haou had to tell her and a slow smile tilted her lips as she understood. "Of course, Haou-sama," she murmured, bending her head. "I'll take care of it at once."

She rose and followed him through the twisting corridors of the palace, eager to see her progeny to be. _I didn't think I would see him again. How amusing._

How long had it been? Three years? Five? Time blended once you lived long enough, and she had lived for centuries already. Not that it mattered in the end. He was here, she was here, and she would do what Haou had asked of her.

Two burly Battle Footballers guarded the cell, but they stepped to the side as Haou and Camula arrived. The door opened without Haou needing to touch it, and they stepped inside.

Yes, there he was. His clothes were tattered and torn, and he could have used a bath. Bruises were scattered across his flesh and she could scent blood in the air. _Pure_ blood, strong blood, what she'd always suspected he had in him but she'd never been able to taste and find out.

"So nice to see you again, Kaiser." Camula purred as she stepped over, seizing his chin in one hand and tipping his head back to stare down at him. "And under such interesting circumstances as well."

The moment he heard her voice, he froze. Oh, yes, he remembered her. Perfect. His eyes hardened as they met hers. "Camula."

"Last time we met, you refused to let me taste your brother's blood." Camula licked her lips in memory of what she'd almost had. "This time, it's yours that's been promised to me."

Kaiser raised his head, his eyes flashing in defiance. "I never promised you anything."

Oh, delicious. So delicious. "You didn't. _He_ did." She gestured at Haou, who stood in silence, arms crossed over his chest, but with a hint of a smirk on his lips.

She wasn't going to wait around. Her hand moved from his chin to the side of his face and she bent his head to the side, exposing his jugular vein. "Good-bye." She sank her fangs into his throat, tasting his rich blood moments later. Passion and power, strength and determination, courage and pride, independence and resolve, all of those coursed through his veins and she tasted them all. She drank and drank, feeding as she seldom did on anyone.

She was the last vampire. She could have made others, but they wouldn't be her kind. Turned vampires were still part _human_.

This, however, was a little different. As she finished feeding, she could hear his heart starting to slow down. With one clawed finger, she cut a slash down her palm and held it over his mouth so it would drop in. Swallowing it would be inevitable.

Several drops fell into his mouth and rolled down his throat. His heart beat no more, and she waited, knowing he had taken enough, whether he wanted to or not. "Come back," she commanded. He had committed grievous sins against Haou and there was no punishment more intense than what she was about to inflict upon him.

There was a place for created vampires in her people's society. He would hate it with all of his unbeating heart, but it was what _fit_ for him.

The guards entered, with Noble D'Noir held between them, even more bruised than Kaiser had been. Camula smiled as the former human's eyes opened and he focused on his former second in command.

"Feed," she told him. "Feed." There was a place for him. For all turned vampires were slaves to those of the pure blood.

**The End**


	12. Hero's Heart

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 12-50: Hero's Heart  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 586  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: hero  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Not liking something didn't mean that it wasn't the right thing to do. Or the heroic thing to do. Shou kept his hands busy by sorting through his deck as he tried not to think about what his brother was doing.

He'd been not-thinking about it for months. Nearly six of them, and they weren't that much closer to answers than they had been what Ryou had infiltrated Haou's army. Ryou's messages had told them a _little_ more, none of it good.

_He should leave there._ Shou sorted his cards again, forming them into neat stacks. He wished he could go outside and find something to do. But it wasn't his patrol time yet, and going out on one's own was insanity. Haou's warriors could be anywhere.

They could be anyone. They could even be his brother.

_He'd find a way not to hurt me._ Shou wanted to believe that, but a cold knot in his heart refused to let him do so. He'd read the battle reports. He'd _seen_ Ryou fighting for Haou. Ryou was as ruthless against them as he had been for them. _He's just trying to keep his cover. That's all._

No matter how hard he tried to convince himself, the cold knot didn't ease. Ryou was being a _hero_, damn it, putting himself at risk to help others. No one else could do this. No one else would have been able to fool Haou. Not even he could have.

His heart knotted even more and he pushed thoughts away he'd tried to avoid thinking for over five years. _Juudai._

Noise came from the outer rooms and Shou put his deck back together in a heartbeat. It still wasn't patrol time, but he heard Edo's voice, and Edo didn't sound very happy. _It's almost time for another report from nii-san._ A cold chill touched the back of Shou's neck and he hurried out. The last report hadn't come at all, and now that another one was due…there had to have been a reason for that, didn't there? A good reason. One that wouldn't give him nightmares.

"This isn't confirmed, but it's what's been buzzing around some of the villages nearer to his castle." That was the first thing that Shou heard as he stepped into the meeting room. The knot in his heart tightened up. This had to be about something different. Battle plans, for one side or the other. _Not about nii-san._

Edo continued speaking as Shou wriggled his way through the crowd. Being short had advantages, after all. "All we can be certain about is that we haven't heard from Hell Kaiser in a month." Shou froze where he was and tried not to breathe. Or think. Or exist. If he didn't exist, then he wouldn't hear what was coming. If he didn't hear it, then it wouldn't have happened.

"But every bit of information we can get out of there leads to this: Haou knows Hell Kaiser is our spy."

Shou forgot how to breathe. He wasn't sure how the words sank into his mind, but Edo somehow kept talking and he kept listening. "I don't think there's anything we can do to get him back right now. He'll have to deal with this on his own."

Ryou could do that. Shou had no doubts. No matter what issues they'd had in the past, Ryou was able to get out. He wouldn't stay a prisoner forever. Haou wouldn't be able to kill him or break him. He would _survive_.

**The End**

**Note:** I'm going to try to update this on a daily basis from now on. I want it finished before the end of October if I can.


	13. Women in His Undeath

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 13-50: Women in His Undeath  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 722  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: her  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

"You're a natural at this." Camula approved as he sank his fangs into a woman's neck. He tried not to listen, and feeding was the perfect cover for that. He had to concentrate on what he was doing. He couldn't let any of it go to waste. That was what made her calling him a 'natural'. He focused on what he was doing instead of on what had happened to him.

_I'm killing someone so I can continue to exist._ Focusing on what he did instead of what had happened wasn't as easy as he had hoped, however. Not when one led into the other so neatly.

He wrenched his internal thoughts away. This woman had been an idiot, he told himself. She was too weak to survive in this world. He didn't believe in Haou's 'culling of the weak', not to that extent, but there _was_ some justification in it. If you couldn't bring yourself to fight and kill, in your own self-defense if nothing else, then you would die. Not everyone would have that restraint.

When their detachment had arrived to clean out the village, she'd tried to stand up to them. Ryou would give her that much credit, for at least some courage.

"If you don't get out of here, I'll—" The threat was so ridiculous that Ryou didn't even acknowledge she had said it. What kind of a moron thought something so immature could or would threaten any of them? They worked for _Haou_, willingly or not, and his rage was far more terrifying, and fatal, than any minor prattling from a fool.

_I did her a favor._ Ryou decided if he told himself that enough, he would probably believe it. If he hadn't killed her, then she would have died in a horrible fashion in the arena. Haou held no patience for fools.

Her heart stopped beating. Ryou dropped her to the ground and licked his lips without thinking much about the matter, wanting to get every drop of her blood that he might have missed. He glanced down at her, then to Camula.

"Is she going to rise?" The thought hadn't occurred to him before. Had any of the others he'd killed risen again?

"No." Camula shook her head, a pleased smile on her lips that sickened to him to see. "A vampire must give of their blood to another for them to rise." Her smile twisted for a moment. "At least, that is how it must be for a _pure_ vampire. Someone like you cannot pass along the gift to another." Ryou nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line as his fangs receded to wait for his next feeding. _I think that's the best thing she's ever told me._ Never to be able to pass this _curse_ to someone else, to never doom someone to the hell that his life was now.

Camula turned her gaze to the rest of the captives. She was the one in charge of this mission, which was more to train Ryou in how to be a vampire than any other reason. Haou and Johan were taking care of business in another part of the world. Ryou was just as glad he wasn't there to see _that_. At least feeding from the blood of the living was less nauseating than seeing Johan adoring the man who had brainwashed him.

"Look over here." Camula commanded and Ryou obeyed. He swore anew, as he did every time, that he would find a way to kill her. He didn't know how or when, but he would find a way to do so, and when he was free, he would feast as never before on Haou's army and on Haou's General and Haou himself.

She gestured him closer and he walked over, submitting to another set of lessons in how to choose a healthy victim. The body of his last one lay behind them, pale as could be, and Ryou soon forgot it was even there. What mattered wasn't a passing meal, but the plans that formed in his mind and the lessons he learned now, so that when he was free one day, he would be able to feed, and not kill.

At least until the day came when he could make the kill that mattered, and be free forever.

_Her_.

**The End**


	14. No Time To Whine

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 14-50: No Time To Whine  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 682  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: angst  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Ryou closed his eyes and leaned back on the pillows. He would have to hunt later, but for the moment, he had some time to himself. Haou didn't have anyone that had met his requirements for execution via vampire, and plans for the next assault on a village weren't finished yet. _Free time. When was the last time I had it?_ He couldn't remember offhand.

_I suppose it doesn't matter. I have it now._ He stared into the darkness provided by his closed eyes. If he opened them, the room would still be dark. He preferred it that way now. Maybe it had something to do with being undead.

That still unnerved him if he thought about it too hard. That was one reason he didn't think about it too hard. _I don't have time to stress about it._ Even with this unexpected free time, he didn't. He would have to stalk his own dinner tonight and that would take up most of the time he could've used mentally wailing about how unfair life was.

If he'd been inclined to do that anyway.

The last few months of his life had certainly not been very fair. Life itself wasn't fair, period. If life were fair, then Yuuki Juudai wouldn't exist in the first place. Since it wasn't, this was what he had to deal with. Being a captured spy and a vampire who had no choice in attacking or feeding from those whose blood Juudai commanded him to drink.

He breathed in and out, more from habit than from need anymore. He really only needed to do it if he wanted to talk. He touched the side of his neck, and knew what he would not find: a pulse. _I always thought if I died, that would be the end of it._ He had never feared death. There wasn't any reason to, after all. One died and one was _gone_. There were people who thought there was an afterlife, but Ryou had never been one of them. He wanted oblivion and to leave behind only a single shining memory of himself, perhaps with the duel that ended his life.

_I haven't lost the chance for that,_ he reminded himself. It just hadn't happened _yet_. There were still duelists who could give him what he wanted, on both sides of the war. The question just remained on which one of them would it be and when. There was time to choose. Time to fight. And still far too much that he had to do before he could end it anyway.

There were people, he supposed, who wouldn't be happy with the turns his life had taken if they stood in his place. They would complain, whine, and moan about how horrible it was that they lost their life and freedom. He could recall one or two from the rebellion who would react like that. Sorano had complained more than once when Kenzan had defeated him in training duels. Hamaguchi Momoe was one of their best sniper duelists and she still wouldn't have been able to handle this.

For all of that, _he_ wasn't happy with how his life had turned out. No, not life, undeath. But he wasn't going to sit around and bemoan the fates for not handing him a plush life on a silver platter. He had much better ways to spend his time. Such as hunting. He _knew_ when the sun went down now without ever having to look outside.

He rose to his feet and went straight out the window, landing gracefully on his feet. There were some benefits to being a vampire. He hadn't taken more than a few steps before he stopped and looked at where Haou stood, lips twitched into a smirk.

"Good hunting, Hell Kaiser." Haou's voice drifted through the night air. Ryou held his own words behind his teeth and nodded acknowledgment. _If he didn't exist…_

He shoved the thoughts away and headed out to hunt his dinner. He pitied whoever it was. He was always messy when he was in a bad mood.

**The End**

**Note:** I realize the conventional belief is that Momoe and Junko couldn't duel their way out of a wet paper bag, but this world is much harsher and unforgiving than that of canon. You either toughen up or you die. Obviously, Momoe toughened up. What happened to Junko? I'm not telling yet. You'll find out. Either here or in the main series. One day.


	15. Restless Undead

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 15-50: Restless Undead  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 624  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: grave  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

They stretched out for miles underneath the pale blue winter sky. Thousands upon thousands of duel disks, each set into a small mound of earth: the only grave that duelists had or needed. Their decks remained in the slot, forgotten and abandoned, even by the survivors who might have loved the duelists in life. Those survivors had other problems to worry about than tending to a dead deck.

How many of those had he sent to the graveyard, both from battle and to feed from? _I don't know._ Hell Kaiser wasn't certain if he cared, either. Everyone died in the end. What mattered was how, not if or when.

_Why does Haou keep this place?_ He knew the answer even as he considered the question. Like so much that Haou did, it was to inspire fear. Those who gazed on this would know their fate.

It wouldn't deter many of them. Even if they were scared, he knew many who would come to fight nevertheless. They would fight and die, but they would fight, and perhaps that mattered more than their deaths, to show that Haou would have to rip this world from them before he could destroy it.

_He'll do it, too._ Ryou had seen his plans from the inside out. He had helped to make them at one point. Haou was relentless, unstoppable, a force of nature given human form.

No. Not nature. _Destruction_. Haou was destruction incarnate, and Ryou never prayed, but he longed with all of his soul for the day when someone would be able to stop him. _Do the undead even have souls?_ He'd been a vampire for nearly a year. He didn't know.

Perhaps ones like Camula did, twisted and vile as they were. Or Vampire Lord and Vampire Lady. He didn't know why Camula didn't accept _them_ as her kindred, instead of wanting her race back. Of course, the loathsome bitch would probably have just found some other excuse to work for Haou.

Night gathered at the horizon and Ryou stirred a little more. He hated waking up early, but sometimes it was worth it, just to catch that little glimpse of the sun. Nothing he could touch again, but he could look on it, from a distance at least.

There was movement out among the graves now. Haou's servants, bringing in fresh loads of duel disks, wagons of them. Ryou watched as they dug fresh mounds and set the duel disks in them. A few cards escaped into the breeze, one dancing and twirling until it reached to his window. Curious, he reached out and caught it.

The picture was one that he knew, though he hadn't seen this card in some time. A large koala, with eucalyptus leaves in its mouth and pouch. _Death Koala. Maeda Hayato._ His heart hadn't beat in months, but nevertheless it clenched at the sight.

Hayato was hardly the only person to use Death Koala, but Ryou didn't doubt that was whom this one had belonged to. Someone else who had been a friend, or as close to a friend as he ever had shy of Fubuki and Fujiwara, had died because of Haou.

Vengeance wasn't within his reach. He wasn't able to disobey Haou. Camula had seen to that. But if nothing else, he could honor one friend in his memories.

He turned from the window and returned to his quarters, a single narrow chamber that held only a bed, a nightstand, and a wardrobe. He needed nothing more. He slid open the nightstand draw and tucked Death Koala's card in there for safekeeping.

Perhaps Haou would make him destroy it one day. But for now, it would be a memory kept safe, and not in the grave.

**The End**


	16. Not Well Planned

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 16-50: Not Well Planned  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 545  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: overdose  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Four sets of eyes stared at him, each burning with eagerness. Ryou wanted nothing more than to tear out every one of their throats. He held himself back: for the moment.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ryou asked, his voice as calm as could be. He touched his lips for a moment; the taste of what they'd forced down his throat was still there. Blood was all that had passed his lips for months and he'd almost forgotten what it was like to have anything else there.

"You needed water." The first of them had introduced herself as Jacqueline and that was who answered him now. "You're very thirsty."

He was, but not for what they wanted to give him. Not that he wouldn't take what he wanted in the end, but he wanted answers first.

"What made you think I needed water?" He _was_ Haou's vampire. There weren't many people who didn't recognize him. These girls had to have. No one could be that stupid in this world.

"Everyone needs water!" One of the other ones, whose name he hadn't caught, chirped at him. "You don't want to dry up and blow away, do you?"

He winced. Perhaps some people _could_ be that stupid. "I need blood, not water." He wasn't going to try to hide what he was.

"Oh, we know all about that." Jacqueline told him, shifting closer to him and placing one hand on his knee. He looked down at it, then up at her. "We can take care of that later. There are other needs you should satisfy first, Ryou-sama."

His eyes narrowed for a moment. So this was what they had in mind. "I have no other needs."

"Everyone has needs, Ryou-sama." Jacqueline attempted to correct him. She moved her hand higher up his thigh. "Lilith-sama gave us something to help you, and I know that you're going to enjoy this."

Lilith-sama. He only knew one Lilith: Succubus Knight. Haou allowed her and her whorehouse to exist only because it gave certain of his followers a place to release tensions when they were off-duty. She would join the others in the end, of course. Everyone would.

He'd had enough of this. He stood up, shaking off the girls without effort, and seized Jacqueline by the throat, slamming her into the nearest wall. "What was it that she gave you?" He thought he knew. He wanted to be certain.

Jacqueline struggled against his grip, her hands clutching at his wrist to no avail. The other girls stared at him, but none of them had the courage to come any closer. He tightened his fingers on her throat. If she didn't answer, there were three others who he could ask.

"Essence…essence of desire!" Jacqueline gasped. "It was supposed…supposed to help us…" She couldn't speak any more; his grip had tightened with every word she spoke. She had said enough in his opinion.

He, on the other hand, had no need to say anything else. He had said once before he only needed blood. Now was the time to prove it.

After all, he _was_ very hungry, and here were four victims who had already proven they didn't have the brains to survive. Overdosing a _vampire_ on a lust drug.

Idiots.

**The End**


	17. In The Tower

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 17-50: In The Tower  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 621  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: bells  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Ryou crawled up the side of the building, his goal the bell tower at the very top. He moved without effort, his fingers finding purchase in the smooth rock where his eyes would have claimed there was nothing. One of the benefits, so to speak, of being undead, he presumed.

A trickle of unease crossed down his spine and with nothing more than that he swung to the side and dropped down another three feet. An arrow spun through where he had just been and he growled to himself. Before he could say anything else, a deep-toned bell echoed over the valley, the noise all but shattering his eardrums.

"To arms, to arms!" From above and below the cry came in near perfect unison. "Haou's warriors are attacking! To arms!"

Forewarned, were they? His eyes narrowed as commands from Haou surged to the fore. _Never hold back in combat. Kill all those who would kill you._ These villagers would kill him if the chance arose. That meant they were better than free game.

They were _lunch_.

He closed his eyes and fought to ignore the sound of the bell as he climbed higher once more. He was dead; the bell had no holy powers. It could not hurt him. The bell ringer might well be armed but that would make his feast all the more worthwhile. It was always better to let one's food struggle before it was over. Hope savored the blood almost as much as despair did.

In moments, he launched himself over the edge of the tower and made ready to do battle. He recognized the warrior who stood there and smiled, his fangs visible.

"Kochou Ran." What a surprise. He hadn't ever thought to see her again, not after their _last_ encounter.

She stood firm against him, her duel disk raised and her first hand already drawn. "Kaiser." There was no sign of the passionate emotions she'd once had for him, unless one wished to count blinding hatred. "Ready to duel?"

"Not especially." He had no objections to a good duel, but now wasn't the time. Not with hunger burning his throat and anger sweeping through him. He knocked her duel disk off and shoved her against the wall. "You caught me at a bad time."

Ran struggled, her eyes wide and shocked, and he let her do so, not showing how strong he could be when he so chose. "Are you a coward, not to duel me, Kaiser?"

"I never duel my meals," he replied, easily keeping her against the wall. "That's why they are my meals."

He tightened his grip on her wrists; if she hadn't been there to attack him, he would have spared her life. Circumstances, that was all it was.

Her eyes flicked behind him; a moment's worth of movement and no more. He didn't bother to react, he simply _acted_, shifting around so that she stood between him and whatever was behind him. A bowstring twanged and the arrow shot by Woodland Archer buried itself deep into Ran's chest.

"She dies cleanly, not by your bite, monster." Woodland Archer declared, his voice gruff and deep. Ryou tossed the body to the side. It was of no use to him any more.

"But you don't." Ryou allowed no more time for a fight. He could hear smaller bells ringing from other places in the village; whoever hadn't done the proper reconnaissance for this place would pay for it. His part of the battle had to be finished before Haou called him back.

Batting the Archer's bow to the side with a backhanded strike, Ryou seized his opponent's arms, pinned them to the wall as he had with Ran, and this time, fed.

**The End**

**Note:** Sorry I took so long to update. A lot has been going on, not just with my writing. But I'm going to at least try to work on updating this on a daily basis again. Wish me luck! Also, Woodland Archer is a real card.


	18. Eyes Not Hands

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 18-50: Eyes Not Hands  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 737  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: bitter  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Hell Kaiser closed the door to his room and locked it without a second thought. He didn't want anyone interrupting what was to come, for more reasons than he could count. He settled himself into the chair he kept by the window and watched the movements of the guards and servants below.

_The least of them has more freedom than I do._ Haou's captives had more freedom than he did, if the truth were to be known. His fingers, the nails a little more claw-like than they had been only months earlier, scraped against the side of his chair, drawing curls of wood from it.

"I wouldn't think that a vampire would want a wooden chair." The voice was far too familiar. Ryou wasn't surprised that he was there, though. He'd caught that equally familiar scent before he'd ever set foot in his room.

"What do you know about vampires, Fubuki?" He didn't look up, but he knew where Fubuki was anyway: right behind him. Waiting.

"I know that you are one and you don't want to be." Fubuki's hand rested on Ryou's shoulder. The vampire didn't move. A single call would bring any number of answers, from a set of guards to Haou himself. Or Ryou could deal with this himself. "Shou's been worried about you. We all are. Ever since Yuusuke came back that night."

Ryou's lips thinned for a moment. "I knew it was a mistake to let him go after seeing me." He shouldn't have even let his old friend see him at all.

"You can't leave, can you?" Fubuki asked, concern written large in his voice. Ryou wished he dared to look at him. It was bad enough feeling his hand on his shoulder. Fubuki was so _warm_, so full of life and vigor. He would make an excellent snack.

Or worse, if Ryou called for Haou. _Much_ worse.

"No. Stay away from me, Fubuki. I obey Haou and Camula now." Ryou chose his words with the greatest of care. If someone saw Fubuki in there, he had to be able to answer Haou without lying and yet he had to tell him what had happened at the same time. "Where they tell me to feed, I must feed, and when I kill, it's because of Haou's commands."

Fubuki's touch didn't pull back, as Ryou had almost expected. He wasn't certain if that made him feel better or not. "Do you still duel?" Fubuki's question almost brought a smile to his lips.

"Yes. He prefers to see me kill in other ways, though." True enough, in every word. Ryou dueled when Haou commanded, since the dark overlord insisted that every one of his warriors be a skilled duelist. But the majority of his kills were with his bare hands and fangs.

Fubuki brushed his fingers through Ryou's hair for a moment or two before he stepped back. Ryou still kept the majority of his attention on the view from the window. "You hate them, don't you?" Fubuki gestured to the people visible outside, the movement of his hand just catching Ryou's attention.

"They have what I don't." Ryou replied, his fingers digging once more into his chair. Haou's minions weren't the only ones that he hated. It was everyone, Fubuki included, who still had his freedom and his family. _Everything I'll never have again._

He knew when Fubuki left; a breath of quiet wind and he was gone. The rebellion would know everything he'd told Fubuki in short order. _Maybe he should've been the one to come here._ He wouldn't have had to do what Ryou had done. He wouldn't have been _caught_ like Ryou had been.

He wouldn't sit here and see what everyone else in this world had that he didn't, even if they didn't realize it.

They served Haou because they wanted power or prestige or just the chance to kill others. They served by _choice_.

_Who was the idiot the day we decided we needed to find out what happened to Johan? Was it me or Fubuki?_ Did it matter? Perhaps not, in the end.

But he still hated them. _Enjoy it while you can._ When they grew weak, he would be there. That was the best part of being what he was. He could still kill parts of Haou's army. He would take what joys he could get these days.

Perhaps it was time to feed again.

**The End**


	19. Changing Methods

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 19-50: Changing Methods  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 768  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: pattern  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

There were neither clocks nor windows in the cell, but Ryou had a sense of time, and he knew that soon enough, Haou would return and start putting him through torment once again. That was what happened every day. Haou's cold hands landed on some part of him and agony undreamed of filled his world.

_He'll kill me eventually._ Ryou didn't have any doubts about that. All that remained was for it to actually happen. Haou could be patient; what he'd done to Johan proved that. But would that patience last in Ryou's case? He didn't think so.

What bothered him more were the times when Haou did something other than pain. His hands were as capable of lighting one on fire with pleasure as they were with agony. _He's not going to break me. I don't care what he does._ The torment had been going on for weeks, and Ryou was no closer to breaking than he'd been when first revealed as a spy. Death was the only option that remained.

He drew in a few breaths, storing up his energy in anticipation of what was to come. Sure enough, he heard footsteps outside, ones that he had heard many times before, measured and calm.

Ryou frowned as his ears registered something else: another set of steps. Haou had brought someone with him? That broke the pattern. Always it had been just the two of them. He shook his head; Haou could bring a thousand he would still not break. _Johan_ had broken, but he was Hell Kaiser. He would not.

The door swung open and Ryou presumed that Haou entered. He hung with his back to the door, unable to see who might come through. Ryou tensed, a chill far worse than any Haou could produce slithering down his spine.

"He's strong." Haou came around from behind Ryou as he spoke, his mad golden eyes staring down at Ryou. "A month's worth of pain and still he won't bend."

"What will you do with him, master?" Johan's servility set Ryou's stomach churning. He joined Haou a few seconds later, a pace or two behind the dark duelist.

Ryou lifted his head as much as he could to see the response. This had to be it. Why else would Haou have brought his _general_ there? It wouldn't be a duel to the death, of course. He hadn't seen his deck in the month since his capture. But neither of them had any weapons.

Torture, then. Even more than before, until he died of it. He could deal with that.

Haou leaned over to whisper in Johan's ear, a quick smile across his lips sending another jolt of fear through Ryou. This did not bode well.

Still, he kept his head up high and stared at the two of them in defiance. "Do your worst."

The smile that twisted Haou's lips now was worse than the one before. "Johan. Do your best."

Ryou believed he was ready for anything, until Johan dropped to his knees before him, licked his lips, and reached for a part of Ryou's anatomy that no one had ever touched before. His eyes widened at the skilled caress and he did his best to pull away, even as the first sparks of pleasure began to spin through him.

Haou trailed his fingers across Ryou's shoulders, then set his hands on his captive's shoulder blades. Ryou tensed, ready for pain or pleasure…or thought he was, as at that same moment, Johan leaned forward, his tongue darting across Ryou's flesh. Haou's hands clenched just for a moment, and a wave of intense pleasure shot through Ryou. He bit back an unexpected moan, refusing to give in.

If there was a rhythm to their actions, he couldn't find it. There was only pleasure, only the sensation of Johan's hands and tongue, the cold hands on his back that intensified what he felt beyond what a mortal should be able to stand.

Words drifted through his mind, the Haou's voice speaking to him. "Who is your master, Hell Kaiser?"

The question snapped him back to reality as quickly as anything ever had. He was on the brink of release, the tip of an orgasm such as he'd never experienced before. Johan's tongue still worked, flicking and teasing with skill. More waves of pleasure rocked through him from where Haou's hands touched him.

_He wants…me to break still._ Hell Kaiser's eyes narrowed. No. "No one." He breathed out the answer with all the defiance in him. Let them have their fun. He was Hell Kaiser. _He would not break_.

**The End**


	20. Points of View

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 20-50: Points of View  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 529  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: sigh  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

No matter who entered, Ryou couldn't see who it was until they walked around to stand in front of him. He suspected Haou had had him chained like that on purpose, just to add that one little extra scrap of torment. Nevertheless, Ryou grew adept at figuring out who was there just by the sound of their footsteps. He recognized Johan within the first few moments of hearing his boots on the stone floor.

"Hell Kaiser." Johan stared down at him, his blue-green eyes filled with sorrow. If Ryou paid attention to just the eyes, he would never have suspected how different Haou's General was these days. "You shouldn't fight against Master."

When Johan opened his mouth, however, it became obvious how much he had changed. He refused to answer, only staring back into Johan's eyes, his own hard and unresponsive.

"He's going to get what he wants out of you." Johan shook his head and sighed. Whatever else Haou did to him, the bastard hadn't stinted on food or exercise. Johan's muscles were harder and more developed than before his capture.

_I suppose becoming a sex slave gets you better treatment than being a captured spy._

Ryou preferred the pain. Pain made one stronger, after all. Pain gave him something to fight against. _I will not be him._ Pleasure changed Johan into _this_. Pleasure could go straight to Hell.

"I thought the way you did once. I thought he was wrong and evil." Johan sighed again, a rueful sort of sound. "I was foolish and so are you, Hell Kaiser. He is _going_ to make you want he wants you to be. You can't stop him. No one can."

Now Ryou lifted his head and stared into those eyes. "He doesn't me to do anything except suffer." That, he knew without a doubt.

"Then you'll suffer as much as he wants you to." Johan's words were unnaturally calm. "He is _Haou_."

Ryou shook his head and bit back a sigh of his own. He knew better than to even ask Johan to kill him. Johan killed only at Haou's command these days. _I wonder if I could persuade him I've broken._ The thought of being allowed back on the battlefield, to either return to the rebellion or to find an honorable death in battle, appealed to him.

_No._ He wouldn't lie just for that. He would find another way to reclaim his freedom, no matter what it took or how much time passed before it happened. He didn't think Haou would believe him anyway.

Johan's footsteps echoed in the bare room as he circled around Ryou toward the door. He paused for a moment and laid a hand on Ryou's back. "You want him to kill you, Ryou." His hand was warm with life, so unlike that of Haou's. "That's why he won't do it. He does what he wants, not what you want."

That was self-evident in Ryou's eyes. So he would be allowed to suffer forever? No. There would be an end to it one day. Someone would make a mistake somewhere and he would die or escape. It was all just a matter of time.

**The End**


	21. To Risk Death

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 21-50: To Risk Death  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 552  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: change  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Nothing.

No matter how hard he stared, he couldn't see himself. There was nothing there. He touched the tips of his fingers to the mirror, then breathed against it. Nothing happened.

Ryou closed his eyes and balled up a fist, slamming it into where his reflection should have been.

If he weren't dead.

Undead.

If Camula hadn't put her filthy mouth on his neck.

Drunk his blood.

Fed him hers.

Made him a vampire.

Glass shattered, but there was no pain. He wondered in an abstract sort of way if that too was because he wasn't alive. He brushed the shards from his knuckles and tried not to notice the open flap between his first and second fingers that would have bled if …

If his heart still beat.

If his own blood flowed through his veins.

If he were _still human_.

How long had it been now? Time meant nothing to him anymore. Time had ceased the moment Camula's voice called him back from the dead.

He wondered if his soul were still there and he was nothing more than the memory of a warrior duelist, an empty shell who kept itself going on the lifeblood of others. Perhaps the true Marufuji Ryou was in some afterlife the likes of which he couldn't conceive and would never experience.

Ryou couldn't help but envy that part of him, should it exist somewhere. That part of him, that part of his life, held so much he knew he would never taste again.

To be free: something he hadn't appreciated until he wasn't anymore.

To live in the sun: something he hadn't thought he wanted, until it scorched his skin.

To walk beside those he cared about: something he took for granted, until he saw them as food.

No. There was no other part of him. If there were souls, then his was in his body and he could not escape what he was by pretending he was anything _but what he was_.

He couldn't lie and tell himself this was all Camula's fault, or Haou's, when he was the one who chose to spy upon Haou in search of Johan. If he hadn't been such an arrogant fool, then this wouldn't be his existence now.

He should have known better. He hadn't. Now he would pay for this for all time to come.

Or until Haou's rule over the twelve dimensions was complete and there was no more time or existence for him to suffer in ever again. _Or until someone kills me._

No, not just 'someone'. It would have to be Edo. He was the only one who had a chance. _Which is why Haou won't let me near him._ Not with a duel disk, at the least.

A sudden thought twitched through his mind. Ryou examined it for a few moments, then smiled. This could work. All that it would require would be waiting for the right moment and then approaching Haou in just the right manner.

He pulled his deck from the case and began to set each card on the table, the shattered mirror, and all of his depressive thoughts about the hell his life vanished into to the far corners of his mind. There was a single chance to end this all, and he was going to take it.

**The End**


	22. Consequences

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 22-50: Consequences  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 870  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: failure  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

_Blood_. Rich, dripping, luscious, life-giving blood. He could hear it all around him, rushing through the veins of those he couldn't see. Sight meant nothing to him now at any rate. There was only scent and need.

No, not need. _Hunger_. There was nothing to him but the hunger. He had been more than that once before, but that was no longer now, and now was all that mattered, now and the driving, burning need that clawed into him and clawed to get out of him.

His teeth gnashed on air. He'd been well fed once. Why wasn't he now? Why couldn't he get to that _blood_? Why couldn't he sink his fangs into the necks he knew were all around him?

_You've been disobedient, Hell Kaiser._ The words slipped into his mind and he twitched. Was this who kept him from his food? The voice meant nothing, but what the words themselves said dragged and nagged at him. _You will not be fed until you are properly punished for your crime._

Crime? He knew nothing of this. He slammed a fist forward and stone shattered under his strike. "Blood!" A demand and a plea all in one. He needed it, could not exist without it, had to _have it_.

The voice did not respond at first. When it did, there was a hint of dark amusement to the words. _Then you will have what you need. If you can obey me._

For blood, he would do anything. All thoughts of pride or independence were cast aside in the all-consuming need for the liquid of life.

Out of the confused welter of his thoughts, he became more aware of his surroundings. A cell, he decided, consisting only of four stone walls, one of which sporting a large hole the size and shape of his own fist. The opposite one held a door, he learned when he turned around, for in that door stood a figure in black and red armor.

Hunger warred with knowledge inside of him. He knew who this person was, but the name escaped him as he also knew _what_ they were: one of those who carried the life he needed in their veins.

Vampires moved with such speed that their prey never saw them attack. With only the thought of food in his mind, he struck forward. This armored being, however, was faster still than he and knocked him to the side as easily as he would have done so to a human. The vampire lay where he was, confused and hungrier with each passing moment.

"Follow me and you will have what you need." His voice was the same as the voice in his mind and the vampire realized belatedly that this was a voice he could not disobey. Yet he wasn't being commanded. This was his choice. Follow and feed, or remain here and starve.

That was no choice at all.

He paid little attention to their surroundings as he was led through the corridors outside of his cell. Many others were passed, yet the vampire ignored them all. They were not food, he realized. They could be, but they weren't now. He was being taken to feed.

"There." Before them stretched a small village, sheltered from the weather by the location and protected from enemies by a stone wall. "There is your food. Take all you want."

He needed to hear nothing more. Released from all restraint, he leaped over the ridge where they had stopped and plunged toward the collection of houses. He first encountered a pair of guards patrolling and ripped their throats out without a single thought. He swallowed all the blood that he could, then went on for more.

There was no thought in his mind for anything but feasting. Bells rang and people ran this way and that, attempting to fend him off, and failing. His strength exceeded anything their mightiest warriors had, and he didn't even deign to fight them. This wasn't a battle. This was feeding time.

The eastern sky paled by the time he was sated. He slumped against the inside wall, breathing hard, and wiped at his mouth with the back of one hand.

"Hell Kaiser." Ryou's head snapped up at Haou's voice and full knowledge of what he'd just done sank into his mind. He stared at the village, or what had been the village. There was no one left, not even the tiniest child.

He swallowed, some part of him smugly pleased at how thoroughly he'd hunted them all. Perhaps some had escaped; if so, they would be breeding stock to rebuild his food supply later.

_No_! He shook his head in a vain attempt to scatter the thought, and swallowed again as he stared at his captor. "Haou."

"Do you remember?" Haou lifted his faceplate and stared into Ryou's eyes. The vampire frowned, then paled as much as he could. _Edo. I…Edo…_ His realization must have shown on his face, for Haou nodded. "Never attempt that again. Or when I release you, it will be against those precious rebels of yours."

There was nothing but silence before Haou turned back to the ruined gate. "Come."

After a few seconds, Ryou followed.

**The End**


	23. Coming of the Dawn

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 23-50: Coming of the Dawn  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 647  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: glimmer  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

He didn't need to look to the sky to know that the east paled. The way his skin tingled and his stomach flip-flopped were all that Ryou needed anymore to herald the coming of the sun.

He didn't close his window to block it out. Not yet. _If only…_ Suicide by the sun was forbidden to him. Granted, _all_ forms of suicide were blocked to him. Haou would not let him escape into the peace of death.

But he could still stare at the sunrise and dream of what might be one day.

Perhaps because of Haou's twisted sense of humor, his bedroom commanded a flawless view of the east and was high enough in the castle that he could see sunrise no matter the season. Of all that he hated about this mockery of life, this was a view he had to enjoy.

With infinite slowness, the sky paled from star-filled night to dark blue dawn. Ryou's skin tingled even more and his stomach warned him of what could happen if he did not take precautions. Still, he didn't move, waiting and watching.

From dark blue to lighter blue, the shadows faded and the light grew stronger. _His power is that of darkness. There should be a light to counter it._ If there was, then he knew he couldn't touch it for himself. The faintest glimmer of light was poison to him.

His eyes stung as the faint arch of the sun began to glow just out of sight. This was as much as he could stand. He closed the shutter and locked it, rubbing his eyes as he did. It was late for him and he would need all the rest he could manage soon. Haou had promised a grand feasting once his latest conquests and captives were sorted out.

He leaned against the shuttered window, memory and imagination filling in what he could no longer see for himself. A gleaming, glowing ball of light rose over the horizon, sending streams of illumination over the land and banishing the chill of the night. He could feel the warmth of the sun's rays through the shutters. Not that the cold bothered him. Nor did the heat. Being immune to all extremes of temperature came along with being undead.

_Does Camula even bother to look at the sun?_ He doubted that very much. She had never been human. She'd never known the loss of light to be anything to mourn. She would likely enough not even understand why he watched it as much as he could.

Not that he planned to tell her about it. He smiled as one of his favorite imaginings unfolded in his mind. Simple and to the point: he either threw Camula into the burning rays of the sun or he stabbed her through whatever shriveled organ passed for her heart with a stake.

Somewhere, he knew, Yuusuke and Fubuki, Edo and Saiou, and all of the rest would be stirring with the sun's rise, making plans for the day, looking over the reports of the night. He had hunted earlier; they would find reports of that, he didn't doubt.

It wasn't as easy to remember everything he had done with them as it had once been. He hadn't forgotten why he was here and why he was what he was. But he couldn't remember certain events or faces. How had he, Fubuki, and Yuusuke met in the first place? Where had he learned to duel? Where had he gained his deck?

He stretched out on his be and closed his eyes, the memories flickering and shimmering in the back of his mind, taunting him with their nearness and yet never coming close enough so he could grasp them fully.

_Never mind. It doesn't matter anymore._ The past was gone, little more than a glimmer of thought. For now, he needed his rest.

**The End**


	24. Background Setting

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 24-50: Background Setting  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 592  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: loss  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

"Cyber End Dragon! Eternal Evolution Burst!" Ryou pointed to where Camula stood, her field and hand empty, her eyes wide as his prize monster's attack glowed in its mouth, then blasted across toward her, reducing her life points to zero.

"You did it, big brother!" Shou bounced and wriggled cheerfully and Ryou gestured for him to calm down. That was unnecessary; Shou had scarcely begun to move before he groaned and sank back down to the ground, one hand pressed against his neck where Camula's bite mark still bled.

Camula dropped to one knee for a moment, then rose up, tossing back her wave of green hair. "Very well." Precise fury edged her voice, but Ryou paid little attention to it. What he wanted were the stakes of his victory.

She gestured and the ropes that bound Shou to the tree released themselves. "Your little brother is free to go." Her eyes didn't move from Ryou as he came over there, and he stared back at her in raw defiance. "This ends nothing, Kaiser Ryou."

"I know." All things considered, this was just the beginning. He touched the side of Shou's neck; the bleeding had almost stopped, and while he knew little about medicine, he thought his brother would be all right. _I'd better have the physician check him out, though._

He gathered Shou into his arms and couldn't help the flush of reassurance when his brother moaned at the movement. He turned to look at Camula once again. "But remember our bargain. I won: you won't touch him again."

"Oh, I remember." Camula's lips twisted into something he would never have called a smile. "He is safe from me, Kaiser."

He didn't like the way she phrased that. He had no fear for himself; any time she wanted to challenge him to a duel, he was ready and willing to defeat her yet again. "Good."

Ryou turned and walked away, keeping a firm hold on Shou the whole time. He could feel Camula's eyes on his back as he made his way back to the path through the woods and refused to look back at her. At least not until he _was_ at the path. He cast one glance back then and wasn't surprised to find that the way he'd followed wasn't there anymore.

_Let her hunt somewhere else._ He'd heard rumors of the last of the vampires all of his life, but until now, no one that he knew had actually met her. _I could have gone on without meeting her myself._

"Big brother…" Shou groaned once again and Ryou shifted him around to get a better look. His eyes were open and there was more sense in them than there had been throughout most of the duel, since Camula had bitten him. "Where are we?"

"Almost home." Ryou reassured him. He wondered if Shou even remembered that he'd won the duel. No matter if he didn't, the fact he had was there all the same.

He didn't want to think about what might've happened if he hadn't. Camula's words echoed in his mind.

_"When I defeat you, you'll belong to me forever, Kaiser. You'll be the first of those who help me to revive the great and glorious vampire race!"_

Of all that Ryou could think of to do with his life, reviving the vampires wasn't anywhere on the list. At least he wouldn't have to do that now. He carried Shou back to their cottage and went in search of the physician. One nightmare was over. For now.

**The End**


	25. Murder Attempt

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 25-50: Murder Attempt  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 610  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: imprint  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Ryou winced as splinters from the stake pricked into his hand. It wasn't the pain itself that irked him; it was the _wood_ itself. _I'd heard that wooden stakes killed vampires, but no one ever said how splinters **hurt**._ Granted, most of those stories weren't told from the point of view of the vampire.

But this wasn't going to last forever. He hadn't read all the vampire literature that some of his friends (Fubuki) had, but he did remember one story: that when the head of a vampire's bloodline died, all those under the vampire's control reverted to being human.

_I'm going to kill her._ Even if it didn't cure him, then she wouldn't be around anymore. She would have paid for doing this to him in the first place. Better than that, _he_ wouldn't have to do this anymore.

His ears twitched; were those her footfalls he'd heard? She could move as quietly as he could and usually did. He shifted a little and tightened his grip on the stake, refusing to acknowledge the pain anymore. One way or another it would be over in just a few minutes.

Camula's rooms were as dark as his own were and for much of the same reasons. Vampires didn't need daylight or candlelight to see. His shadow blended in with the darkness as she entered and closed the door behind herself. Bloodscent came in with her; she must have fed before returning to the castle.

_She'll be slower._ Once he was fed full, it was always a little hard for him to move for at least the first hour or so. He shifted position and made up his mind.

Becoming a vampire endowed Ryou with far more than mortal speed, strength, and reflexes. If a mortal had been trying to watch him, there was no way that the mortal could've seen him move from his lurking spot to where Camula stood running a brush through her hair.

Nor could the mortal have seen Camula's other hand snap back to the side, knocking the stake from Ryou's hand, and seizing him by the throat. She slammed him against the wall and stared at him, eyes glittering in amusement.

"I've been expecting you to do this for weeks, Kaiser. You disappointed me." Her smile spoke volumes and Ryou cursed to himself. He should've moved faster. Maybe he could've picked up a crossbow and taken her down from a distance. It wouldn't have had the same impact, but it would've been _done_.

Her grip on his throat tightened, though he wasn't in any danger of dying. He'd done that once already. "Did you forget that I am the one who made you? That I control all that you do, Kaiser?" Camula stared at him, her eyes dark with thoughts he didn't want to know the nature of. He didn't answer; what could he have said? Perhaps she knew that, for she didn't appear to be waiting for an answer.

She tossed him to the floor and before he could move, spoke. "Stay where you are until I tell you to move." His muscles froze in a heartbeat. Camula continued to brush out her hair, paying him no more mind than if he wasn't there, until she completed the rest of her toilet. Then she seated herself in her favorite chair and examined him.

"Haou will not want you harmed. You're useful to him," she mused to herself. "But he will want you educated."

'Educated', in those tones, wasn't something Ryou wanted to hear. Camula leaned down to stare at him, her eyes glowing bright and strong. "Time for your lessons to begin, Hell Kaiser."

**The End**


	26. Guiding Death

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 26-50: Guiding Death  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 624  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: flicker  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Kanda tossed another stick of wood on the fire and looked at his two companions. "Who gets to stay up for first watch?" He had a feeling it would be him; both of them had dueled earlier in the day and needed their rest.

"You can." Torimaki yawned, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. "I need some sleep." Just as Kanda had predicted.

Mototani stretched his arms out and wriggled. "So do I. That was a tough fight." He'd won only by the thinnest of margins, and Kanda suspected there would be a few nightmares drifting by that night.

He poked at the fire with a longer stick and looked out into the night that surrounded them. What was out there that might see the fire? But they dared not do without it. Even though he couldn't see that far from their makeshift camp with it burning.

Darkness could hide so much. He'd heard rumors about what Haou was capable of doing and what kind of beings walked under his sway. Even…

No. That was a story, nothing more. Just something to scare people. Because _he_ couldn't be …like that…

Kanda turned his head to check in another direction and gasped, jumping back from his perch on the log. "It's…it's you!" He swallowed, even as Mototani and Torimaki stirred and sat up. "Look! It's Hell Kaiser!" The rumors weren't true! They couldn't be! A horrible bloodsucking fiend wouldn't stand there in such silence, would it?

"Kanda. Mototani. Torimaki." His voice hadn't changed a bit. Sure, he was a little paler, but nothing that being held captive for weeks couldn't have accounted for. "It's been some time."

Kanda scrambled to his feet, even as his fellow scouts did. Both of them activated their duel disks and stared over at Hell Kaiser. Kanda stared at them. "What do you think you're doing?"

"This is Hell Kaiser! You've heard the report!" Torimaki declared, eyeing the former spy. "He's not to be trusted! He works for Haou now! _For real_!"

Kanda shook his head. "You're not going to believe all of that, are you?" This would make _her_ so happy, to bring Hell Kaiser home again safe and sound!

"Kanda." Hell Kaiser's voice was much closer to him than it should have been and Kanda whirled to see the dark duelist was _right beside him_, instead of on the far side of the fire as he'd been moments earlier. "You should believe."

There was only time for one scream before Hell Kaiser sank his fangs into Kanda's throat and fed, the blood slurping down his throat and a few drops dripping onto his jacket.

Mototani and Torimaki exchanged a quick glance, then turned and fled the campfire and the vampire, stumbling over rocks and branches and splashing through streams. Mototani finally pulled himself to a halt, panting. "Do you think we lost him?"

"Sure. Vampires can't cross running water, right?" Torimaki glanced behind them at the stream they'd just half-swam, half-ran across. "We're safe now."

"No. You're not." From behind them came two firm hands that seized onto the backs of their necks. "Don't believe everything you read about vampires."

Hell Kaiser kept Mototani in one hand while he drew Torimaki closer to himself and bit the pulsing vein. Torimaki screamed once, his hands battering uselessly at Hell Kaiser, then slowly slumped into his captor's grip as his strength ebbed away.

Once it was over, Hell Kaiser dropped the bodies were they lay and made his way back to the fire. He kicked dirt over it until the flames smothered and then kicked more, just to be certain. The flickering flames had guided him to his feast and with their purpose served, now were gone.

**The End**


	27. Forging Onward

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 27-50: Forging Onward  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 587  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: without  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

_Drillroid, Patroid, Truckroid._ Shou sorted the cards in his deck with mechanical precision. His deck lacked something, but he hadn't yet figured out what it was. Maybe he should ask…

_No. I can't._ His brother was gone, converted into a minion of Haou. _Against his will. This isn't what big brother wants!_ He had to remind himself of that constantly. None of them could forget it, or they could end up hurting him. Shou wouldn't allow that.

He laid out the cards again. _Kiteroid, Dragonroid, Cycroid._ Fusions, spells, traps, effects. Everything spun in his mind and he finally pushed them all to one side, a low moan slipping out from his lips.

"Big brother…" He wanted Ryou back. He wanted that cool, remote gaze and the insistence on following the path one chose without hesitation or regret. Their paths had diverged, true, but Shou didn't care about that. Ryou was still his brother.

He glanced at the door but only for a moment. Edo wouldn't let him go outside without an escort. Ever since he'd returned from Haou's palace (and no one had the nerve to ask how he'd made it back from there), he'd watched over Shou with extra care. He'd never said why, either. Shou wondered…had his big brother asked him to?

Edo wouldn't tell him if he had. When Edo had his lips around a secret, that secret was dead to the world. Sometimes Shou wondered just how many secrets their commander kept from them all.

_Maybe if I ask someone to go with me._ Asuka would be a good choice, or Fubuki-san. Both of them were good enough duelists that they could fight off almost anyone Haou might send against them, if he sent anyone at all. It didn't always happen, but one of the rebellion's watchwords was _better safe than dead._ They'd lost a lot of good people who went out without protection.

_We lost a lot who went out with it, too._ Kanda, Mototani, and Torimaki's bodies had been found the previous month. Manjoume swore he would find whichever one of Haou's two vampires had done this and stake them himself.

Given that one of those was Ryou, Shou wasn't holding his breath on Manjoume's chances. He couldn't blame him for being that angry, though. _Whoever it was shredded them._ Necks laid open to the bones, drained of every drop of their blood…

Shou tried not to let his stomach send his last meal back up. Roasted quail wasn't that bad, but it didn't taste half as good the second time around.

He stared back at his deck, then swept it into the holder. _He's not coming back,_ he told himself. _I've got to get along without him._ Everything in him squirmed at the thought.

He would go and ask Asuka if she wanted to go with him on a quick reconnaissance mission. It wasn't necessary but it would get them both out from headquarters and he could talk to her about going on without his brother. She and Ryou had been close once upon a time. Maybe she would have some advice that would help. It couldn't hurt to ask.

Maybe she would even have some advice for what to do about his other problem, too. If he could bring himself to tell her about it. Even if she didn't just talking to her might give _him_ something to think about.

No matter what, he was going to have to learn to live without both of them from now on.

**The End**


	28. Despair's Echoes

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 28-50: Despair's Echoes  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 577  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: mask  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Yuusuke turned over one page in the book and stared at the designs set out there. _I could do this._ It wasn't that hard, really. A few designs, a bit of work to build the mask, spilling one's blood, and the power would be there.

Ryou wouldn't approve. Yuusuke knew that. _Ryou's not here to do anything._ He knew that as well. Ryou was _dead_. Undead, a monster who fed off the blood of others and who from all accounts grew to enjoy it. Ryou wouldn't have a say in this.

"Master." He didn't look up at the sound of Honest's voice. The Duel Monster didn't have a say in this either. What _use_ was he around here?

_I can't get Ryou back. I can't bring back anyone else._ Dead was dead. _I can at least do this._ The power of Darkness. It wasn't like Haou's Darkness, though he still wasn't sure about the differences. This appeared to be akin to _non-existence_ as opposed to destruction.

"Master." This time he turned to see what Honest wanted. The angel's eyes bent toward him in concern and Yuusuke sighed to himself. _He's worried again._ "You need to rest more."

"I'm fine." He didn't want to reveal what he'd found just yet. Honest wouldn't approve; Yuusuke knew that. But he didn't need Honest's approval. He just needed all of this to _end_.

He turned back to the book and flipped a few more pages until he came to the instructions on how to make the mask. _I could do it in a week or two._ He would have to take time from his patrols and his other responsibilities, but that wouldn't be difficult. It wasn't as if anyone noticed him in the first place.

"Master, your patrol is soon." Honest laid a hand on his shoulder and Yuusuke looked up, annoyed by the interruption. "You and Fubuki-sama are scheduled to inspect the territory to the northwest."

Yes. Rumors abounded that Haou was going to expand his realm in that direction soon and if they could put a halt to it, or even just get some information on what was going on, it would give the rebellion a somewhat better advantage. _For a little while. Until he does something to destroy it, like send out Ryou to empty the villages or Johan to kill everyone._

And once again, there was nothing that any of them could do to stop it. Ryou struck too fast, under cover of night, and he was a damned _vampire_, stronger and faster than any of them.

_If someone killed him, shoved a stake through his heart or cut his head off, that would stop him._ He passed a quick glance to the books on vampire lore that almost all of them had read at some time or another in the last few months. Some of it was true, some of it wasn't. None of it had been of any help so far.

"All right." He closed the book and stood up. He could pick it up again once he and Fubuki returned from patrol. Perhaps he would get some kind of an idea while he was out there. Stranger things had happened in the world.

While on that patrol, he found two bright blue sapphires that he knew on sight would serve for the eyes of the mask and a ruby that would fit perfectly in the center of it.

He took them home with him.

**The End**


	29. Last Smile

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 29-50: Last Smile  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 604  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: smiles  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Momoe remembered Ryou's smile from years earlier. It didn't appear often, but when it was, it was something that could warm hearts. She thought Fubuki teased him just to make him smile around other people. Though truthfully, for all of Fubuki's efforts, Ryou still only smiled when he chose to.

_Sometimes I wonder if he forgot how._ There were other smiles, of course, such as the ones on his lips when he crushed Haou's warriors. Or when he defeated some young upstart who thought because Ryou abandoned the path of respect that he wasn't as good a duelist as he used to be. _Like that one girl._ Momoe couldn't remember her name anymore, Daisy or something like that she thought, but Ryou had taught her a lesson in record time.

She'd seen him from a distance when he'd been on Haou's side, spying to uncover the truth about Johan. He grinned then, much as he had before, but she'd always thought there was a fainter, darker edge to it now, worse than when he had first become Hell Kaiser.

No one she knew had seen him since his capture, however. Or at least, no one had seen him smile who also lived to tell about it. _Teeth. Fangs._ She knew every rumor that had passed through the ranks of the rebellion. _Vampire._ More than rumor, truth. A grin that held death in it.

She shuffled her deck and turned her thoughts toward her current mission. A portion of Haou's army was encamped near here and she needed to take out as many of them as they could. For three nights Ayanokouji, Takadera, and Gokaido had been out there setting up a duel ring, so anyone she challenged would face the ultimate penalty when she won.

A grin tugged at her own lips for that. How many had she killed now? At least twenty, edging onto thirty. The innocent girl she'd once been couldn't have imagined that. But war changed everyone.

Momoe settled into a branch of a tree where she could get a good look at the forces arrayed out there and try to figure out which one to cut out from the group first. The army appeared to be settling in for the night, which would allow her a few chances to make up her mind. Human or Duel Monster? Or perhaps she'd take potluck and see who crept into the bushes for a call of nature. She'd done that more than once. Something about jumping down in front of someone just finishing their business put her opponents off their guard.

There was someone now. She leaped through the trees, her duel disk tied to her back to keep it out of the way, landing on each branch lightly, and clinging with all of her strength to keep herself from falling. By the time she arrived at the tree he was busy watering, it was much closer to full night. She dropped down behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Duel!"

Ten minutes later, she dusted off her hands and started back up into the trees to search for another victim. Started, but never made it, as someone else laid a hand on _her_ shoulder.

She whirled at once and her eyes widened to see lips parted in a grin that betokened only death. "Hell…Kaiser…"

"Hello, Momoe." Regret tinged his voice, but only for a moment, as he knocked her duel disk aside and bent her head to expose her neck. There were no more words, just a flash of pain, and the memory of that grin followed her into oblivion.

**The End**


	30. Divergence of Paths

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 30-50: Divergence of Paths  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 655  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: bleed  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Summer, autumn, winter, or spring, grass, dried leaves, snow, or stray branches, Ryou's feet made no sound no matter where he walked. He was little more than a shadow as he made his way through the woods. He was hungry, though not famished. If he found no one else, he could return to the castle without effort.

For all intents and purposes, he walked through the forest as if he were human. Enjoying himself, not hunting. His opportunities for doing so grew less and less with each day, as Haou's armies spread throughout the land. This might be one of his last chances for months.

_Someone is up there._ He could hear breathing, the occasional movement of feet, and something else he couldn't identify. His nose caught more than the scent of human: it was the scent of blood. Ripe, fresh blood.

He moved through the summertime woods until the scent was stronger and clearer. Something about it sent his senses reeling and he clung to a branch as he fought to get himself under control. The branch shattered under his grip, sending splinters into his hand, and he swore without thinking at the pain.

"Ryou?" He knew that voice. He brushed the splinters away and crossed the small ridge that hid him from whomever that lovely scent exuded. There stood Fujiwara Yuusuke in the center of a design that Ryou didn't find familiar in his mind. But some part of him, some _dark_ part of him, whispered that this was danger incarnate.

"What are you doing?" Ryou lifted his gaze from the design to Fujiwara's face, or tried to at least. The other wore a strange mask that sent the same sensations of knowing/not-knowing through him that the circles and lines did.

"Finding Darkness." Fujiwara smiled, and while Ryou had seen other smiles on his friend's face, he had never seen one like this before. "I'll be all right, Ryou. Nothing will be able to hurt me there."

Ryou shook his head and snapped into full awareness, throwing away the false peace that this place reeked of. "What are you talking about?" Now he saw where the blood came from: a cut on Fujiwara's arm, still fresh and bright, dripping down to splash upon the designs. Power surged up all around him and Ryou stepped back, every part of him shrieking in warning.

"Yuusuke! Yuusuke!" From the other side came Fubuki, who scrambled over bushes and small trees until he stood just outside the area of the circle. "Stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

"Fubuki." Fujiwara smiled at the sight of him, then shifted so he could look at them both. "Don't worry about me. I told you, I'll be fine." Once again blood dripped and power surged around, this time in a wave of darkness that wrapped all around Fujiwara. "Here, Fubuki. I won't need this anymore. You might." The mask floated over toward him and Fubuki reached up for it automatically. "Ryou, take care of yourself. Be strong."

His smile, that strange, uncanny expression, was the last thing that Fubuki or Ryou saw of their friend before the shadows enfolded him and then were no more. Ryou staggered back, his legs shaking. He seized onto a rocky outcropping in an attempt to steady himself.

"Ryou…do you know…" Fubuki stared from the mask in his hands to Ryou. "No. You don't know what he did. You couldn't."

Ryou shuddered and pulled himself to his feet, forcing every part of him that was once Marufuji Ryou, Hell Kaiser of the resistance, out of his mind. Camula's words and Haou's commands thrummed in his veins. "He died rather than fight Haou. You should all take his advice."

And before he could give in to the sudden hunger spawned by the scent of Fujiwara's darkness-tainted blood, he turned and left. Other people would bleed tonight, but not Fubuki.

Not the only friend he still had.

**The End**


	31. Gift of Danger

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 31-50: Gift of Danger  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 632  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: wrapper  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Fubuki. It had to be Fubuki. Ryou glanced down at the spill of black fabric at his feet that only his old friend could or would have left there. Who else would have remembered today, after all?

He bent down and picked it up, running his hands across it with a modicum of tenderness. _Velvet._ Only Fubuki knew how much he liked plush fabrics. Leather, silk, satin, velvet, anything that was expensive and hard to come by appealed to him. Even now, he didn't get it as much as he would've liked.

He shook it out, mostly to get rid of the dust and dirt, and watched for any signs of a note. Nothing fluttered down and he relaxed. _At least he had that much sense._ This he might well be able to pass off as a bit of war booty, but a note? That would be harder to explain to Haou.

Ryou couldn't help but run his hands over it once more. _I wonder what he had to do to get this._ Velvet of this quality wasn't easy to come by. Fubuki was the living embodiment of 'having connections', so that probably had something to do with it.

Two sets of solid footsteps came closer and Ryou looked up to see Johan and Juudai approaching. He bowed low at once, mentally wincing as he did. "Haou. General." He kept his voice neutral; he could get away with neutral, so long as he continued to obey Haou's commands.

"What have you there?" Johan asked, as comfortable in his leather as Hell Kaiser was in his own. Ryou tried not to think too much about Johan's outfit. Just looking at it made him shudder.

"Someone dropped this." Ryou held it out with just the right combination of disdain and amusement. "I would like to keep it. It doesn't appear to have any holes in it."

Haou took it from Ryou's hands without a word. He shook it out himself, examining it with a critical golden eye. Ryou kept his expression as neutral as he could. If he showed any real desire for it, he suspected Haou would find an excuse for him not to keep it. _This would be a perfect method to get a message to or from a spy._ He wanted to hurt Fubuki, now that he thought about it more. If he really _had_ to leave something, did it have to be something this exotic?

Johan brushed his hand against it and glanced toward Juudai. "You'd look magnificent in it." Ryou didn't miss the sultry lilt to his voice and struggled to retain both his lunch and his composure.

"I don't think so." Haou's eyes glinted a brilliant gold before he tossed the black velvet robe toward Ryou, who caught it at once. "Keep it if you like."

Ryou folded the robe underneath his arm and followed the two of them through the ruined village. He had to admit that it was very thoroughly ruined, and if Fubuki had stuck around, his capture was most likely. _He's too smart for that._

Something that might well have been his own name hissed came from the trees above him. Ryou didn't dare look up; he was too close to Haou and Johan. Perhaps whoever it was there knew that, for they didn't call again.

"Hope you like it." The words slipped out now from a tree not that far away. For all that Ryou reacted, they might never have been uttered in the first place. He ordered the troops to gather back up and prepare to return to the castle. This was just a normal day for those warriors who served Haou, after all. It wasn't anything special.

Three last words floated along after him as they rode away. "Happy birthday, Ryou."

**The End**


	32. Whatever It Takes

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 32-50: Whatever It Takes  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 698  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** scenes: Marufuji Ryou: caution  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

"Hell Kaiser." Haou's gaze centered on the captive as soon as he entered the throne room. Ryou stood with his head high and refused to show a scrap of fear. Fear would bring this entire scheme falling down around their ears, and Ryou refused to be that much of a failure.

"Haou." He let only the barest tinges of respect touch his voice. Not only did he _have_ no respect for the twisted overlord, but he wouldn't make any up. He was there for power, nothing more.

"I have determined to give you a chance to prove your words." Haou spoke after a few tense moments. Monsters and warriors continued to stare at Ryou, but he paid attention only to the one on the throne.

Ryou crossed his arms over his chest, tilted his head back, and stared at the other. "What exactly do you mean?" All around him, Haou's warriors murmured in shock; this wasn't the reaction that someone like him should have! He should be on his knees praising Haou's kindness for not executing him on the spot!

"You'll take a small troop of my warriors to a village and destroy it. Take no prisoners this time." He stared at Ryou as if attempting to read his very soul. "General Johan will go with you and judge your performance."

Performance. That was a good word for it. He would have to give the performance of his lifetime, over and over again, until he had what he needed. That could take months. _I knew that when I came here._ He nodded, still not allowing a shred of emotion to show. This was nothing more than another battle.

"Noble D'Noir." At Haou's utterance, a blue-skinned, armored monster stepped up beside Ryou. "You will also accompany Hell Kaiser and act as his second in command."

The undead monster bowed low, the tips of his pointed ears twitching as he did. "As you command, Haou-sama." His gaze shifted toward Hell Kaiser, who stared back at him as impassively as he gazed at Haou. The young warrior read a hundred emotions in those eyes, and neither kindness nor compassion were among them.

_And he'll see nothing of that from me, either._ Caution in this army was expressed as paranoia and ruthlessness. Being ruthless he could handle. Being paranoid, he thought, wouldn't be hard to pick up.

Haou gestured and a servant stepped up to Ryou, holding Ryou's battered and scarred duel disk. Tucked in there was his Cyberdark deck, ready for battle. Ryou let himself smile just a little. The thought of having combat thrilled him. _Perhaps I can even find someone **worth** fighting._ He wasn't certain what the chances were, but it was worth finding out.

He turned his attention back to Haou and bent his head; that much he would allow. After all, he kept his life and now could continue his mission.

"What village did you want taken care of, Haou?" Ryou paused for a moment; this revolted him, but a quick glance at Johan beside Juudai's side, leather-clad and obedient, solved the issue. "Haou-sama."

Haou's lips thinned in satisfaction for a single moment before he answered. "The village of Xelra. It lies two hours from here and the people think that I have spared them because of how small they are." He savored his next words. "Teach them otherwise, Hell Kaiser. They've lived only because I have had no use for them. Now I do."

Anyone else might have had pangs of conscience stab into their hearts at that. Ryou had no time for such weakness. He nodded; he knew where that was.

"Go." Ryou turned on his heel in that moment and stalked out of the throne room, his concern only for the battle ahead. Noble D'Noir shadowed him as he headed through the corridors, his destination the courtyard.

"Do you really think that you, a human, can rise high in Haou's army?" The monster sneered as they stepped into the sunlight. Ryou didn't spare a glance for him.

"I will." He would not think about failure. He thought about victory and what he would do to obtain it. _Anything_

Even slaughter a village of innocents.

**The End**


	33. Without Flaw

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 33-50: Without Flaw  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 709  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 5scenes": Marufuji Ryou: epitome  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

_Perfect duelist. Perfect warrior. I suppose now I'm the perfect vampire._ Ryou had to find a hint of dark amusement in those thoughts. Better than the alternative, he presumed, which was to give in to despair.

Released for the night to hunt his own meals until dawn, he strolled down the dusty village street. A 'street' only in the strictest sense of the word, as it was really more of a pathway between two rows of cottages. The palisade that surrounded it was half-built at best and presented no barrier to him.

Not that there was much that could _be_ a barrier. What he couldn't jump past he could usually tear apart. Wood wasn't something he could touch, but not everyone realized it could be a defense against him. Or that there were ways around everything.

Perhaps someday, someone would come up with a perfect defense that would keep him out of a place. He didn't know if he wanted that to happen or not. But since tonight, hunger's claws dug into him, he chose to think about other matters.

Such as deciding which one of these families would serve as his dinner tonight. He wouldn't kill them all. He wasn't hungry enough for that. But someone would die tonight.

"I thought I heard something!" A high young male voice. He identified it as coming from one of the cottages in the center and waited to see what else would happen. He knew that _he_ hadn't made any noise. Nor had he heard any. His lips twisted into a non-smile. All the better. "I'm going to go check it out!"

"No! Haou's vampire could be out there!" This male voice was deeper, more worried. None of them were anyone that he recognized. He waited patiently, enfolded in the shadows of the evening. His prey would come.

The first voice spoke again. "I've got a stake and some garlic. If he shows up, it'll be the last thing he ever does!" Ryou almost laughed out loud at that. Stakes and garlic. _He'd read too many tales about vampires._

"He's killed grown warriors! Whatever it is, let it deal with him!" The second voice spoke up now and Ryou sent a hint of a murderous glare. He needed his food and he didn't enjoy having it kept from him.

_If only some of those legends **were** true._ It would be so useful to be able to control the minds of others and bring his prey to him without effort.

Mind control and garlic. Both myths no more substantial than air. Even he, the perfect vampire (though if Camula heard that, she would likely laugh herself back into her coffin) could not make use of what didn't exist.

The door flung open and a tall boy, perhaps seventeen at the most, stalked out, circling around the cottage, peering high and low. In one hand he held a flimsy stake, while around his neck hung a string of pungent garlic. Ryou wrinkled his nose. He'd never liked that even when he had been human.

"Where are you, demon?" The boy muttered, all of his attention on the forest that surrounded their miniature village and none for what lurked behind him. "I'll shove this right into your heart, if you've got one."

"Really?" Ryou stood behind him and as the boy whirled, his eyes wide, knocked the stake out of his prey's hand with a single strike. "I don't think so." With his other hand he seized the boy's shirt and pulled him closer. There was no need for words of wisdom, such as listening to one's elders. There was only the need.

He bit down on the exposed vein and drank, making certain to get all of it in his mouth and down his throat. He didn't want to spill a drop. That was wasteful and he would have to hunt again. No more than one every night. That was his rule.

When it was over, the boy lay dead in his arms, his face a rictus of terror. Ryou carried him to the cottage he'd come from and laid him down, then knocked on the door. Before anyone could open it, he was gone.

The tale of Haou's twisted vampire slave grew…

**The End**


	34. Last Moments Together

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 34-50: Last Moments Together  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 690  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: lover  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

"Are you certain you want to do this?" Fujiwara could be the clingy type, and Ryou didn't often enjoy that. But he could make exceptions, once in a while. Yuusuke tended to respect his personal space, but at the moment, their hands were wound about one another.

"It has to be done." Ryou pointed out, speaking with his eyes closed as he tightened his own hand around Yuusuke's. Who knew how long it would be before they were like this again. Or if they ever were. The least little thing could go wrong and he would be exposed and dead.

"We could send one of the shapechangers in. Or someone else entirely. Does it have to be you?" Yuusuke's grip shook a little. Ryou wasn't surprised; Yuusuke didn't take loss well. He never had, in all the years Ryou had known him.

He shook his head, however. "Yes, it does. Haou wouldn't believe anyone else who came looking for power." He couldn't even be certain that Haou would believe _him_. But he had the best chance.

"Damn Johan." Yuusuke bit the words out with hatred on their edges. "Damn Baou. If I find him…"

Ryou turned as he opened his eyes and looked at Yuusuke. "I'll come back." It wasn't a promise, it was a statement. He would let nothing in this world make him break it. "All that will ever stop me is death."

He didn't say what he knew Yuusuke wanted to hear: that he would come back to _him_. How could he? As much as they cared for one another, he couldn't make a promise like that. _Maybe after I come back, I can._

Yuusuke stared into his eyes, his own shimmering with tears that would not fall. Ryou let him wipe them away, glancing toward the ceiling enough to give him privacy.

"You'd better. I'll come find you if I have to." Yuusuke's hand warmed in his own, tightening a bit more. "I won't let him keep you, Ryou."

"He wouldn't want me." Hell Kaiser's lips twisted just for a moment or two. As hard and cold as Haou was, Hell Kaiser knew his life hung in the balance as he prepared for this mission. When he thought about how dangerous it really was, for information that perhaps others could find out more easily, he wondered just how sane he really was.

The other leaned over again to be able to see Ryou better. "He would. He'd want anyone who can help him, and you can, Ryou. He'll twist your mind and make you believe that he's right." Not empty words, Ryou knew. Haou had done it before to some of the prisoners he'd kept.

He was perhaps doing it to Johan even now.

"I know he can. But he won't. Even if he tries, what else I can find out there could help end it." He didn't have illusions of bringing down Haou's reign from the inside. Get in, find out what Haou was doing to Johan, then get out, and let those who knew more of minds and magic than he did figure out what to do from there.

"Fubuki would be better at this." Yuusuke made one more attempt. "He could get in and Haou would never know that he was there."

Tempting. Oh, so _very_ tempting. Ryou shook his head though. "No. Fubuki's too likely to get distracted by some palace romance." Not that he thought there were many of those going on, but in his opinion, there had to be _no_ distractions for whoever went in there.

"You really want to do this." Yuusuke pushed himself up on one elbow to give Ryou a look. Hell Kaiser's only reply was a nod, and Yuusuke paled for a few moments.

_Is he thinking that I want to turn traitor for real?_ The very thought disgusted him. He walked his own path, which wasn't that of destruction and domination of the world. "Yuusuke, I can only say I feel this is right for me to do. And I _will_ come back."

Yuusuke stared down at him, then slowly nodded. "And I'll be waiting."

**The End**


	35. Hot or Cold, Always Well Done

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 35-50: Hot or Cold, Always Well Done  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 767  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** : Marufuji Ryou: listen  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Ryou didn't need to breathe anymore, but he wanted to. Breathing gave him something to focus on that wasn't driving his nails into Haou's golden eyes and tearing them out, or plunging one fist through his enemy's body and ripping out his entrails.

"Hell Kaiser." Haou's voice wrapped around his title and against every scrap of will he had, Ryou _listened_. Camula's command deprived him of all choice in the matter. "You'll stay on your knees until I tell you otherwise. Keep your head down."

His muscles and bones locked into place and his head dropped to stare at the floor. Haou chuckled, so obviously pleased at seeing the proud warrior brought low. He remained quiet for a few moments, savoring the sight, then spoke again.

"You will feed on whomsoever I tell you to. You'll take care of the dregs and wrecks of my army, those who are too weak to survive. You will kill anyone whom I order you to." He chose each word with infinite care to strike into Ryou's heart. "This includes all of those who were your allies."

Of course. That didn't surprise Ryou in the least. He might've been more shocked if Haou had done anything else. He remained staring at the stone floor, the tips of Haou's boots in sight. He turned his eyes away; at least he didn't have to look at those constantly.

"You will feed only _when_ I tell you to." Haou either didn't notice his gaze pulled away or thought this was more important. "If I do not give you permission to feed, then you won't. Even if days or weeks go by."

If Ryou's heart could skip a beat, it would have. He was new to being a vampire, but Camula had told him what would happen if he went too long without feeding. He couldn't lift his head, but he spoke anyway. "Deprive me of food for too long and I'll feed on anyone in sight. Including you."

Haou chuckled, a dark liquid sound. "No, you won't. I forbid you to touch me or bring harm to me in any way, Hell Kaiser. In fact, unless I tell you otherwise, you will remain on your knees in my presence at all times."

Ryou bit his lip, drawing a trace of blood as he did. He licked it up absently; that must not count as feeding since it was to himself, he noted in the back of his mind. It wasn't going to help him go against Haou's edicts, but it was something to be aware of.

"I _own_ you now, Hell Kaiser, and I'm going to make certain the rest of your life is spent understanding exactly how foolish you were to come here under false pretenses." Haou's foot struck Ryou in the face, knocking him backward. He still couldn't get up, as Haou's next step pressed him to the floor. Golden eyes, far more furious than Ryou had ever seen them, stared down at him.

"You will never take Johan away from me. He is mine and he wants nothing more to do with any of you beyond what _I_ want him to want." He leaned forward, his scentless breath in Ryou's face. "I will spend a great deal of time making certain you understand that."

Ryou wondered if Haou would say those words if Johan were in the room with them. Perhaps not. Perhaps if he understood what Haou did to him, it would all fall apart in Johan's mind. Perhaps he could find a way to get to Johan and tell him all of this.

Haou's lips twisted in frosty hatred. "You are also forbidden to speak of anything I've told you here to Johan. He is much, much happier not knowing anything but what I need him to know. You wouldn't want him to be _un_happy, would you?"

"No. I wouldn't." That was the utter truth. He wanted Johan Andersen, the warrior of the Gem Beast deck, who would hate himself as he was now, to be happy. He didn't give a damn about General Johan's feelings.

"Good." Haou stepped back and gestured for him to get to his feet. "I'll inform you when you can have your first meal at my command. Until then, stay in your chamber. Speak to no one."

Ryou nodded, not able to force any words past his throat now. If Haou cared, he made no sign of it as he returned to his work. Ryou turned and walked out. Behind him, Haou lifted his head and smiled.

He loved when revenge fell into place.

**The End**


	36. Lessontime

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 36-50: Lessontime  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 705  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** : Marufuji Ryou: voice  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Camula traced her fingers down his arm, a wicked smile on her lips as she gestured for him to look at the town that spread out before them. He could scent their life on the wind, an indefinable aroma that told new, dark senses that _prey_ was out there.

"They lock themselves into their homes and conceal themselves behind their talismans of protection. None of those work." Camula turned to gaze at the town. "My people spread rumors about what could repel us for centuries. Humans have no idea of the truth anymore."

Ryou twitched, his fingers clenching into fists. He wanted to pound all of that out of her, but there was nothing he could do. Her commands held him tight. He could no more attack her than he could walk into the sunlight and survive.

"What can?" He should at least know this much. He was one of her kind, no matter what. He needed to know his limitations.

She smiled again, and it wasn't even close to being a kind, sweet smile. This was the smile of a predator. "Nothing. We are _immortal_."

"No, we're not. Sunlight can kill us." Ryou pointed out. Anger flashed through her eyes for a moment and he pressed onward. "Wood isn't good for us either." He'd learned that the hard way.

Camula's hand closed on his wrist, sending pain shooting up his arm. "Be quiet." Her nails dug into him, a few drops of stolen blood leaking out. She turned his arm up and licked it off, ignoring the nauseated look in Ryou's eyes as she did.

Once she dropped his arm, he pulled it back and looked toward the town. "What did you want to do here?" Not that he could bring himself to care, especially since he already knew. This was to be yet another of his lessons in how to be a 'proper vampire'.

"Come with me." Unable to deny her command, he followed her down through the rocky hillside until they stood just outside of the village. "Contrary to legend, we don't need to be invited inside. But it can be easier to find someone who is _out_side to feed on." She glanced over the assembled houses as if choosing from rare wines or fine clothes. He'd seen that look before, the same look when she chose which prisoner would become their dinner. It didn't get any better for having seen it more often.

She moved closer to one of the better-built homes, which Ryou presumed belonged someone wealthy in town. He watched as she lifted up one hand and a red-eyed bat fluttered down to perch on her fingers. She petted it with her other hand and purred, "Go. Watch. Show me who is there and who is worth taking."

The bat flew away, all but invisible in the evening gloom, at least to human eyes. Ryou saw it as well as Camula did.

"You won't be able to do that, Ryou." Camula told him, a hint of smugness in her tone. "You're only a created vampire, not a true member of my race."

"As if I'd want to be." Ryou paid more attention to the other homes than to the one Camula's bat now circled. He thought he could hear someone else coming closer, crunching through the autumn leaves. _They don't know we're here._ Anyone who knew of two vampires standing there would be wise to go in the opposite direction instead of coming toward them.

He didn't say anything to her about the oncoming footsteps, however. Her commands to him were to obey her and never attempt to harm her. Telling her when someone was coming wasn't in the list.

At any rate, he was hungry more than he wanted to see her harmed. For now.

He moved silently away from her once he saw that her attention was on her bat instead of him. It only took him a few paces to be in position to see who came along. No one he recognized, which relaxed him just a trifle. He slipped up behind them, ready to feed.

He had to listen to Camula's voice in many things. This time, he was going to do things his way.

**The End**


	37. From Out of the Past

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 37-50: From Out Of The Past  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 917  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: benevolence  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Haou's cooks seldom, if ever, used garlic in any recipes. As his reign extended more and more, such items became less common. But more importantly, it reeked to Camula and Ryou. Not to the point it would drive either of them away, Ryou himself noted as he prowled the dark reaches of the castle, but it wasn't a pleasant odor.

Which was why catching that aroma now alerted him to the fact someone who shouldn't be around was there. He moved deeper into the shadows, each step taken with no more sound than the falling of snow.

Upon the turning of a corner, the odor grew stronger and he saw where it had to be coming from. Or more precisely, _who_ it had to be coming from. Given the half-light of this area, most people wouldn't have been able to see more than a jerkily moving figure. Ryou saw more than that. Much more. Halfway down the corridor there scuttled an old man, draped with sharp stakes and strings of garlic.

_A vampire-slayer._ He didn't think any of them would actually dare to slip into the castle, much less someone this old. From the way what little light there was gleamed off his skull, the man was all but bald.

Ryou knew his orders well; if there was any chance that an intruder could bring harm to himself, Johan, Haou, or Camula, he was to kill them in whatever manner pleased him the most and report the intrusion to Haou. This wasn't the first situation he'd ever had to deal with and he doubted it would be the last. All he had to do was decide which method that he wanted to use.

The stranger crept down the hall and Ryou walked along, his silent tread and the enclosing shadows keeping him safe from detection. He wondered just what had led this old one here. Had they killed someone who he cared about? Or was he just trying to get rid of the horrible demons that lurked here?

He moved a little closer; something about the shape of the man's head and what features he could see stirred at old memories from when he was human. He tried not to pay much attention to those for the most part, but this caught at him. Flickers of images of a building on a snow-covered mountain whipped through his mind, as did a warm, caring voice instructing him…

"Ryou." The vampire stopped at the sound of his name and saw the other had turned enough to look at him. "It is you."

Now he could see the other's face and the pieces of memory fell into place. "Teacher Samejima." How long had it been since he'd seen his old teacher? Ten years, perhaps more.

"I heard about what happened." Samejima held himself apart from the other, though his eyes warmed with compassion. "I came to find out if what I heard was true." Ryou refused to take another step. Every other person he'd encountered on his duties was someone he held no emotions for or didn't know at all. No one like Samejima had ever come here before. "It is." He bit the words off with as little emotion as he could manage. "You shouldn't be here." "I came for you." Samejima's hand, strong despite his years, folded across the stake at his waist. "I can end this for you, Ryou."

_Old age. If he leaves now, I can choose to grant him death by old age._ It was a stretch of his orders, but he thought he could play with them enough to make it work, at least this once.

"Leave." If Samejima made so much as a threatening move, Ryou knew what his instincts would lead him to do. The stake didn't bother him, nor did anything else Samejima had on him. As fast and as strong as the old man was, Ryou had no doubts that he was faster and stronger.

Samejima's answer was to bring the stake out, driving it toward Ryou. For someone of his age, he was fast, and a human could not have seen him in time to stop him. Ryou, on the other hand, saw the move and countered it, one hand closing on Samejima's wrist and squeezing until the stake clattered to the ground.

"I told you that you shouldn't be here. There is no saving me." Ryou kept his grip on his old teacher's wrist, refusing to let him move an inch. He watched the other hand, knowing that Samejima would try something. When the old man made a move for the garlic, Ryou pinned that arm as easily as he had the first. "Leave and I won't have to kill you." Samejima struggled, jerking back and forth, sweat dripping down his cheeks, but all of his struggles meant nothing against Ryou's unnatural strength. He sagged back at last, twitching, and Ryou pulled him forward, sensing his defeat.

"Better this than having found Camula first, teacher." Ryou murmured as he dragged the old man back to the nearest exit he knew of. Camula would've taken a vicious glee in shredding the old man to death, in front of Ryou himself if she knew of their past.

"Better being dead than what you are you, Ryou." Samejima struggled to catch his breath as Ryou pulled him to the door. "Someone will end it for you if I can't."

Ryou's smile held no shred of joy in it. "No, they won't."

**The End**


	38. By Morning's Light

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 38-50: By Morning's Light  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 657  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: banned  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

The sun was almost up. Ryou could sense it in his veins, that damnable sense of _get away_, the instincts that demanded he find shelter from the burning light. He pushed them aside and forced himself to step farther into the courtyard. He'd watched this spot for days from the shadows, making himself stay up dangerously late after sunrise in order to be certain. Here was where the first light of day always struck in Haou's castle.

Memories flickered through his mind, of uncountable dark nights spent hunting for his sustenance, of friends whose lives ended by his hands…_fangs. Your fangs. Animal. Beast. Monster._ He wanted to deny it and could no more do so than he could deny the lightening sky to the east. It was what he was.

It was what he was determined never to be again. The rebellion would have to succeed without him. He wasn't of any use to it anymore and hadn't been since the day of his exposure. Better that it ended now and he was no longer a threat to them.

The light strengthened with the rising warmth of summer and he shielded his eyes, knowing it wouldn't be much longer. Peace. Finally.

"Hell Kaiser." _No!_ The only voice he hated more than Camula's, _now_? His hands flexed into fists and back again for the space of a heartbeat and he whirled, fist plunging straight for Haou's face. He had to do this, he could not let Haou stop him, it had to _end_!

His knuckles were a scant breath away from the golden-eyed monarch when a single word fell from the other's lips. "Stop."

Ryou froze as if turned to stone. Behind him, the sun crept a breath higher; if Haou only gloated just for a few seconds, then…

"Step inside. Into the shadows." _Away from the sunlight._ He didn't speak the last words, but Ryou didn't need them spoken. Unable to disobey, he entered the castle once again, hearing the loud boom as the door closed behind him, sealing away the light of morning.

Haou gestured for him to follow and led the way to Ryou's own quarters. The silence and shadows closed around the vampire duelist, Haou making certain to take only the darkest corridors. Neither of them needed light to see their way, a fact Haou appeared intent on impressing on his wayward servant.

A wave of his hand opened Ryou's door and he indicated for Ryou to precede him into the room. _He wants no chances I'll run away._ Not that Haou couldn't stop him if he tried.

He turned to face Haou and wasn't surprised that the other had already entered and closed the door. Though Ryou was a good six inches taller than Haou was, there was no question on who the master was here.

"Kneel." Through it all, there hadn't been a single shred of emotion in Haou's voice. Ryou sank down to his knees, dropping his head to stare at the floor, sick humiliation surging through him. "You'll stay like that until I return to tell you otherwise."

Ryou's nails scraped on the stone floor and he waited to hear what the rest of his punishment would be. Would he be starved again, then unleashed on an unsuspecting village? Perhaps used to slaughter more of Haou's enemies?

"You can look at the sun as much as you can stand," Haou said after a few quiet, nerve-racking moments. "But you cannot enter it. You can never let it touch you in any way. You _cannot_ suicide, Hell Kaiser. And not just by sunlight." Ryou couldn't look up, but he knew the expression that would be on Haou's face. Sick, twisted pleasure as he chose his words with care. "You cannot let yourself die under any circumstances. You will fight to preserve your…unlife…until _I_ give you permission to end it. No. Matter. What."

Ryou almost wished for the starvation and the slaughter.

**The End**


	39. Once A Choice Is Made

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 39-50: Once A Choice Is Made  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 764  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: repent  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

"Have you ever felt sorry for anything that you've done, _Hell Kaiser_?" He supposed she meant her question to bite into him, even as he fed from his current victim. His daughter stamped one foot and stared at him, wanting an answer. Regardless of what people thought of him, Ryou had manners. He didn't talk with his mouth full.

But he did think about what she said as he drained the man, sucking every available drop of blood from him. _Regret? Regret that I didn't find a way to kill myself or escape before Haou found me out, yes. But after that?_ Some days he didn't think 'regret' was a strong enough word.

Again she stamped her foot. "Answer me!" If she didn't keep bothering him while he ate, he was going to have to do something about her. He didn't need a larder, but he did keep especially tasty looking morsels around every now and then. Haou's forces weren't always to his taste when he couldn't hunt.

Would he change anything if he had the chance? Go back to being human, undo everything that he'd done? Stop it all from happening from the very beginning?

_I don't know._ Ryou seldom bothered himself with questions of 'what if'. He couldn't do it, so why waste his time wondering about it?

The last drops of blood passed his lips and he swallowed, letting the pale, drained corpse fall as he did. He wiped his mouth and turned his attention to the girl. He didn't recognize her; she hadn't ever been a part of the resistance or anyone he knew beforehand. Well, not that he remembered, anyway. With each passing day, his memories of his mortal life faded a little more, and he cared about retrieving them a little less.

"No, I haven't." The way her eyes narrowed told him she'd expected that. Good. The less people who tried to 'reform' him, the better. He'd never enjoyed that even when he was alive. "Regret or repenting wouldn't do anything to bring back any that I've killed, before or after becoming what I am."

In all truth, doing so would only make him weaker against those who would come to harm him afterward. No, not 'harm'. That was too soft a word. Those who would want to kill him. Once his feet were set upon the path of a warrior, he had known he would fall in battle one day. He would not make it easy for them.

"Don't you care about anything but yourself?" She backed away as he pulled himself to his full height. He knew his own reputation; if she feared for her life, she was wiser than she looked. Though not as wise as she could've been, since she was still there.

"Do you care about yourself at all?" He countered her question with his own. "You are my prey as much as he was." It had been a good night's hunting. Finding two people camping out in the woods with no way to defend themselves was rare indeed.

"You'd just chase me down if you wanted to kill me," she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's no one else around for miles."

Definitely smarter than she looked. He considered her for a few moments. "Do you duel?" He still had certain privileges with Haou, though not as many as he had once upon a time.

"What does it matter to you? There's not a duel ring around here for miles either."

"No. But Haou's castle is within an hour's travel for me. He always appreciates skilled warriors." He couldn't be certain if she had the ruthlessness to survive in the army or not. That would be up to her to prove.

Her fists clenched at the mention of Haou. "Why would I want to join up with him?"

"Food. Shelter. To not die." Those were the only options she had, so far as Ryou was concerned. If she wanted anything more, she would have to fight for it. If she regretted her own actions, that was her decision, not his.

"I can duel. I don't have a deck right now, but I can duel." She didn't take her gaze off him for a moment.

He turned and walked away, a quick gesture indicating for her to follow him. Her father's body lay where it fell and Ryou thought no more of it. _Do I feel sorry for any of this?_ For being a vampire? For killing? For leading an innocent soul into the darkness of war?

No. He didn't.

**The End**


	40. Mark of a Spy

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 40-50: Mark of a Spy  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 705  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: glitter  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

One of these days, Ryou was going to beat Fubuki upside the head for marking his messages like this. It was dangerous even to send them in the first place, even when they were necessary. The slightest error could end up with his exposure to Haou. Ryou had nightmares enough on his own. He didn't need the extras spawned by being exposed.

Yet, there was the message, marked by a sprinkle of glitter. _He's just lucky that I saw it and not Noble D'Noir._ He would have to come up with a prepared viable excuse if his second in command did ever find one of Fubuki's notes. Better to have it and not need it, of course.

At the moment, the battle raged with too much intensity for anyone to notice the traitorous Hell Kaiser pausing in his search for his next opponent to scoop up a scrap of folded paper from the ground and tuck it away in the folds of his jacket.

When the heat and screaming were over with, the prisoners carried off to their new quarters, and the territory firmly under Haou's control, Ryou returned to the palace with everyone else. He dismissed his troops and went straight to his room as he always did after a fight.

That wasn't the only habit he'd established, however, and none of them were out of place with his situation. Locking the door was only sensible for someone who had, for all Haou or any of his minions knew, turned traitor from the resistance. Before he'd started doing so, more than one nasty little surprise had ended up in his personal quarters.

Granted, those had eased off once he'd started throwing the dead bodies of those who tried to give him those surprises out the window. Even Haou's troops could learn a few lessons, if applied with enough force.

That was also why he kept his windows closed more than he didn't. He could let in the fresh air later. For now, he settled on his bed and slipped the paper out. Folded up, it fit with room to spare in the small of his hand.

Glitter still stuck to it, and a few pieces fell off as he began to unfold it. _I think I'd kill him for that alone._ He couldn't let a single scrap be found. Trust Fubuki to make something harder for him without even doing it on purpose.

_Just letting you know that you might want to keep your head down a bit more. Nothing too specific, but Yuusuke's heard some things from some of his other contacts. You know the ones. Just watch your back._

Signed in that familiar way as well. Ryou shook his head; Fubuki would never make a good spy. He shredded the paper into unreadable oblivion and relaxed, his hands behind his head, staring up into the darkness over the bed.

_Yuusuke's contacts. Yuusuke._ Fubuki hadn't went into detail, but details were unnecessary. Ryou knew that the third of their little group knew more than he was telling about a lot of things. He wasn't a spy as well, but Ryou supposed he was the next thing to it. It was just as well that he didn't know who Yuusuke's contacts were. The less interaction between them all, the better.

His thoughts circled around Yuusuke with a hint more fondness than he supposed was safe, given where he was. Haou couldn't read minds, but he didn't dare let his guard drop, even here in the privacy of his bedroom.

_I promised him I would come back. I'll keep that promise._ He didn't know how or when yet. He still hadn't learned enough. Until they knew if Johan's brainwashing was reversible or not, he had to stay where he was, no matter what.

He shifted around, bringing one of his arms from behind his head, and groaned when candlelight flickered off a scrap of glitter still pressed into one hand. _I'm going to kill him one day._ At least Yuusuke knew how to keep himself out of sight. Fubuki would never be that clever. Or quiet. Especially quiet.

At least it hadn't given him away. Maybe he should work on that glitter cover story regardless.

**The End**


	41. What Will Be, Will Be

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 41-50: What Will Be, Will Be  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 645  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: heart  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

It was inevitable. He should've thought about it, and on some levels had. But until now, it hadn't happened. Ryou did what he could not to pay any particular attention to that part of the battlefield. It wasn't so difficult; he had his own tasks to take care of here, herding those who were defeated and captured to where other warriors would watch over them until the battle ended.

_Stay away._ He had no special psychic gifts for being a vampire, but he thought that as hard as he could nevertheless. The few times he did let his attention drift toward that way, he wondered if somehow Shou _had_ heard him.

If he had, his younger brother gave no sign of it at all. Instead, he dueled with all of his heart and soul, his intense gaze boring into his opponent, not backing down for a moment. His dueling showed all of the respect that Shou worked so hard to display, along with an unending desire just to _live_.

Ryou tried not to smile at that. That was much more difficult than not looking at his brother was. He switched his attention more firmly to his prisoners; some of them would become his meals and he wanted none of them to escape.

He also didn't want Shou to become one of them. The battle leaned increasingly in favor of Haou's forces, and when he cast one of his occasional glances, Ryou could see more and more of Haou's warriors inching closer to the younger duelist.

_Get out of here, Shou._ Some of the others were already falling back from the battlefield, finishing their duels and cutting their losses. Ryou approved; Edo had that much sense at least. When a battle was lost, sticking it out to the last man was nothing short of ridiculous. It would only mean fewer warriors in the next attack.

Shou wasn't that far away. Ryou knew he could go over there and capture him with only the briefest of motions. He was a vampire; his strength and reactions dwarfed all but the finest trained of humans. But he kept his attention on his captives instead.

_Haou knows we're brothers._ It would suit his twisted soul to want to pit them against one another, or worse. Ryou chose not to think about 'worse'. Instead, he snatched one of the captives before he could get out of the ring and pulled him closer, staring down at him with hunger gleaming in his eyes. It was enough to keep the would-be escapee in his place.

A knot he hadn't even noticed in his chest eased when Shou finished off his opponent (with a move that Ryou himself had taught him, the vampire noted with a bit of pride) and then turned and fled with the survivors of his group. Ryou forced his features to remain calm, when what he wanted to do was smile with triumph.

If Haou suspected in any way that Ryou had noticed Shou, or possibly even not noticed him, then …in all truth, Ryou could only imagine what he might do no matter the situation. His darkest fantasies couldn't dream up what Haou could do to torment him. He knew that firsthand.

"So that was your brother." Haou stood next to him, though he hadn't been there a moment earlier. His arms folded over his chest, his lips quirked into an expression Ryou chose not to examine very much, he stared in the direction Shou had left. "He's a good fighter."

Ryou said nothing at all. Whatever Haou chose to say or do wasn't his to control or comment on. Perhaps that was why the monarch smiled, darkness shading his features. "Bring them along."

Not for one moment did Ryou believe Haou had forgotten Shou. But for now, it was enough that Haou wasn't interested in him.

For now.

**The End**


	42. Breaking the Chains

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 42-50: Breaking the Chains  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 778  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: savior  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Camula's strings of obedience wound around Ryou to the point remembering what it was like to be free and fully in control of himself was an exercise in raw futility. He struggled with it at first, wanting to cling to the memories of being human. With each passing night, however, those memories slipped farther out of his grasp.

One of those strings bound him to obey Haou as he would Camula herself. For so long when he had first been chained, he'd sworn to himself that should Camula ever die, he would plunge his fangs deep into Haou's throat and feed from him like a ravening beast.

When Camula met her end, it didn't turn out like that at all.

On his way out to hunt, Ryou paused in his tracks, _knowing_ something was different. All of the bindings that kept him obeying Camula and Haou…he frowned, trying to get his mind worked around what he sensed. Something was _not right_ anymore.

Or perhaps it was right again.

Ryou turned from the door and made his way to Camula's quarters, his feet guiding him more than his mind did now. He moved with a vampire's speed so by the time he arrived, the vampire slayer hadn't yet left Camula's rooms.

It was no one he recognized, and deep in the back of his mind, he was glad it wasn't Samejima. He would have to…

No. He wouldn't. Ryou stifled a smile, but stood in the doorway, arms folded over his chest. "You killed her." There was nothing in his voice but satisfaction.

The stranger whirled at the sound of his voice, stake in hand. So far as Ryou could tell, she'd been ransacking the room. She said nothing at all, only plunged toward him at all speed, stake held to the side, ready to slice through him.

Ryou smiled and stepped aside, knocking her down. "You want to live, don't you?"

She rolled to one side and came back up on her feet, quick as a cat. "What's it to you, vampire?"

"Put that down and I'll make sure you get out of here." He bared his teeth in a feral smirk. "Alive. Untouched by me or anyone else here."

A soft fabric mask concealed most of her face, but he could see her confusion. "Why?"

"You've done me more of a favor than you can imagine. That is my reward to you." He didn't choose to tell her more than that. From the squint of her eyes and the tilt of her head, she didn't believe him either. He shrugged. "You could remain here until Haou finds out what you've done. He wouldn't be as merciful as I am." Truer words hadn't fallen from his lips in years. Haou would want her head.

Perhaps it was invoking his name that did it, but she shoved her stake away. "If you try any tricks, you'll be as gone as she is." She probably believed that too. Ryou only nodded and began to lead her to the nearest exit.

There wasn't any conversation between them as they moved through the dark, silent corridors of the castle. Ryou exulted in his new freedom, a thousand schemes and plans sorting through his mind. He couldn't yet decide where he wanted to begin.

No matter. He'd make up his mind in due course. He had so much that he wanted to make up for and so much lost time, gone forever.

"The exit is just around the corner." Ryou motioned for her to stay where she was then strolled out and over to the two guards who stood on either side of the door. There would be more beyond there. It wasn't easy to get in or out of the castle, after all.

"What do you want, vampire?" Both guards were human, and both sneered at him as he came closer. Ryou smiled, making certain to show his fangs.

"Dinner." He thought perhaps he could've done this even before, but it didn't matter. He could _now_. He seized the closest one by one arm, pulled him closer, and bit down hard, while the other one had his head slammed against the wall to keep him quiet while Ryou fed.

Once he was done, he called to the vampire killer. "You're on your own."

She stared at him for a few moments. "You're free of her control now. You can come with me."

Ryou shook his head. He had made up his mind about that already. "I have unfinished business to settle here. Go." He waited only long enough to be sure she'd left, then set off to find Haou.

Unfinished business indeed.

**The End**


	43. Washing Away

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 43-50: Washing Away  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 655  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: crimson  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Ryou wanted to hurt someone. He couldn't attack Haou or Camula. Either of them could stop him at a moment's notice. Killing Haou's warriors only helped him; if they were weak enough that Ryou could destroy them, by duel or by simple assault, then Haou approved of Ryou's actions.

With every passing night, his anger grew, with no outlet to provide peace. He shredded through his victims whenever he could, not caring who they were. Blood poured down his throat in an unceasing scarlet stream, and yet it _wasn't enough_.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been undead when opportunity struck. Winter rolled around and with it shorter days and longer nights: more time for him to think, to plan, and to feed.

More time to spend in Haou's court and wait to be unleashed on someone. More than once he tore someone's throat out and fed in front of them all. All object lessons for Haou's power, he knew. _Disobey and this could be your fate._

Once, he knew, Johan had been Haou's executioner, delivering the same message Ryou did now. He wondered who had feared Haou's consort the way they feared Ryou himself. At least with Johan, death was simple and quick, the end result of a hard-fought duel and always the slim chance that one could win.

Not so with him. With him, there was only one question and two answers: how much pain did you die in? Fight back too hard and the answer was 'a lot'. Give in and it was 'none at all'. Unless Haou wanted there to be.

Ryou's gaze drifted toward Johan where he sat submissively by Haou's side. Dangerous intellect glimmered in those eyes, even as they turned up toward Haou, ready to do his bidding at a moment's notice. Ryou's own eyes narrowed.

_Perfect._ Haou had taken from him everything that mattered: his independence, his pride, his freedom. He would take what mattered to Haou away from him.

It didn't take long. Johan was seldom apart from Haou, but Ryou could be patient. He was undead. He had nothing but time left to him.

He watched as Johan pattered down an empty hallway, his intent focused on his goal, not what, or who, could be lurking in the shadows. Ryou waited until he passed, then reached out and seized his former ally from behind, pinning him to the wall a moment later with one hand, keeping the other pressed against Johan's mouth to keep him silent.

Words would be meaningless. Instead, Ryou sank his fangs into Johan's throat. Hot coppery liquid, strong with life, spilled down his throat, thick with fear. Good. Let him be afraid. _Be helpless. Be everything that I was._

"Hell Kaiser." Haou's voice seldom touched true emotion. Raw fury burned through it now. "Let him go." Ryou hissed to himself but the ties Camula had put into place forced him to obey. He pushed himself away from Johan and wiped his mouth, ready to declare why he'd done so, his entire fierce litany of rage.

Haou stepped up and took Johan into his arms, unaccustomed tenderness in every movement. He turned toward Ryou, fury burning. "Go to your quarters. Don't leave until I tell you to do so. Do not _feed_ until I tell you to do so."

Icy hands of fear and fury closed themselves on Ryou's neck. He refused to give any response beyond turning and heading away at once. There would be punishment. He'd expected it. Perhaps even his own execution.

He should have known better. Haou knew how to hurt people in far more interesting ways than just killing them.

Until then, Ryou enjoyed the memory of the fear in Johan's eyes and blood. It was all he had to live on as the hunger built up and he stopped being able to think, and all he wanted was for the red rage of hunger to end…

**The End**


	44. Balance The Scales

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 44-50: Balance the Scales  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 688  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: child  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

With each night's passing and each time that he fed upon someone else, Ryou accepted more and more that he was an undead vampire and always would be. Camula doled out pieces of information about vampires, made and born, and the truth came clear as she did.

"You're almost ready to hunt alone," she told him as they strolled through a village in search of their next victims. He granted her a nod; she owned his obedience, but not his respect. No one had that anymore.

Her lips twisted, displaying her sharp fangs. "You are the only child of mine who has ever reached this stage, Hell Kaiser. Be honored."

He glanced back at her, eyes narrowed. "Your child?" He hated those words; he wasn't any kin of hers! Not by his standards, which were all that mattered.

"You are my child. I sired you as a vampire." Camula pointed out with relentless logic. "By the ancient laws of my clan, I am responsible for seeing you grow to maturity." Her smirk widened. "Though by those same laws, you would never be considered a true vampire."

As if he cared about that. He glanced ahead and saw a pair of young people walking together in the evening shadows. A romantic outing, he guessed. The fools wouldn't ever see safety again.

Camula's hand closed around his shoulder and pulled him back. He turned to see her shaking her head and raised an eyebrow at her. She gestured toward the two and he took another look, a more careful one this time. He must have missed something; she'd never held him back from a kill before.

This time he saw it. The way the two of them remained in close contact, but not so close they could interfere with one another if it became necessary. The tilt of their shoulders and casual, _far_ too casual movements of their heads and arms. He glanced back at her, eyebrow lifted once again as he mouthed a single word.

_Hunters?_

She nodded. Vampire hunters, whose ancestors were those who had slaughtered her people hundreds of years earlier. Red light gleamed in her eyes as she looked at them again, the desire to see them dead at her feet radiating from her.

Then she turned and walked farther down the village road. He followed without orders, knowing she wanted him to, and at the same time curious to see what she had in mind. It would be more than choosing someone else to feed from tonight.

She stopped outside of a house, better built than most of the others, and gestured for him to remain hidden. He stepped into the shadow cast by the house next door and watched. Camula was amazingly forthright in her next actions: she simply knocked on the door. A few moments passed, and Ryou wondered if no one was there at all. Would it be the hunters' home if that were so?

Then the door creaked open, and Ryou shifted around to see a girl, perhaps about ten or so, framed by candlelight behind her. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Camula seized her by the throat and dragged her outside. Her small fists battered at Camula's hands without effect, her feet kicking helplessly as Camula lifted her up.

"Come here, Hell Kaiser." The vampire hissed, her voice distorted as she prepared to feed. "We'll share this meal tonight."

"There's not enough." Ryou pointed out. "She's too small." He let no emotions touch his eyes as he looked at the girl, her own eyes round with terror at the sight of both of them. Tears sparkled in the moonlight, falling down her cheeks as Camula pulled her closer.

"Then go find your own." Ryou had just enough time to turn and walk away before he heard the girl's scream and the unmistakable sound of vampiric fangs tearing through human flesh. He would take his chances with the hunters. At least they could fight back.

At least once he was done with them, they wouldn't need to go back home to find what Camula left.

**The End**


	45. Traitor's Choice

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 45-50: Traitor's Choice  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 707  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: cost  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Ryou stepped into Haou's throne room, a dark joy coursing along his veins. He hadn't been this free in years. With Camula's death, he could make his own choices about what he did now. No one could control him, not even Haou.

And speaking of that one, Haou lounged now on his throne, playing his fingers through Johan's hair, and watched as Hell Kaiser strode up the carpet that led down the middle of the room. Only the three of them occupied the room, and Hell Kaiser dismissed Johan out of hand. This was between him and Haou.

"Camula died from a vampire slayer's attack." Ryou declared as he came to a stop.

"Which releases you from her control." Haou murmured, still caressing Johan's hair. "And from mine."

Ryou nodded, his attention full on Haou as his fists clenched. If he made so much as a move toward Haou, he knew that Haou would stop him. _I dreamed about this moment for years, and there's nothing I can do._

Nothing but what he'd planned to do.

Haou tilted his head back and examined Ryou. "What do you intend, then? To return to your friends? Your br…" He deliberately ended the word there, the ends of his mouth curving up into a smirk. "You can't do _that_, can you?"

Ryou's hands clenched for a single moment as he fought down the black fury that threatened to overwhelm him. "I want to kill you." There was no use in hiding it. Haou knew, anyway. He'd always known. "But I'll stay here. I'll feed off anyone you like: with an exception." He paused just for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I won't attack any of the resistance. No one that I knew. Ever."

Silence rang in the throne room. Haou's smile widened a fraction. "I accept, Hell Kaiser. But I have a condition of my own."

"Which is?" "You'll find that slayer who killed Camula and bring me back her head to prove you killed her. Camula was valuable to me…just as you will be, I'm sure." Haou adjusted himself on his throne, lounging with a panther's grace. "You'd best do it soon, before the hunter gets too far away."

Again Ryou's fists clenched. _He knows._ Haou knew that he'd guided the hunter out of the castle. This was probably yet another one of his sick schemes to hurt someone else as much as he could. In this case, Ryou. _I don't have a choice._

Or rather, he had no choice worth making. He could stay here, he could attempt to return to the rebellion, or he could wander on his own. This was the only one that he could truly make.

He nodded once toward Haou, turned, and left. He didn't think he could stand to look at the other duelist for another moment. He had a hunter to catch at any rate.

_I'd go back to them if I could._ He moved swiftly through the corridors, ignoring the various warriors as he passed them. _After all that I've done, all that I've killed, I can't._ They could not trust him. He wasn't human anymore. He wasn't even _alive_ anymore.

They were his food. They would trust him not to feed, and he could not return that trust. Here, at least, everyone knew what he was and hated him for it. If he fed…when he fed…there were no trusts violated here. They knew it could happen.

Wandering alone held a little more appeal, but too much danger. _A lone vampire is a dead vampire._ Camula had taught him that much. He would need someone to watch his back until he gained a secure hiding place, and there was no one he could trust for that. Fubuki would try, he knew he would, but he wouldn't put that pressure on his friend. Fubuki had his own life. Ryou was dead. Even if he hadn't quit walking around yet.

Which left this his only true option. At least he wouldn't be a threat to the rebellion anymore. He'd have to let them know, somehow. Though he knew there would be those who called him 'traitor' now.

Let them. He walked his own path, right into the darkness where he belonged.

**The End**


	46. Truth and Lies

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 46-50: Truth and Lies  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 704  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: writer's choice: opportunity  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Hell Kaiser made his way through the woods; he could hear the sounds of battle up ahead, and knew he was almost there. If he were too late, then this would fall apart. Too early and it would provide a scrap of confirmation that this was a setup. But his timing was perfect.

He took a moment to examine the scene before he stepped out. Johan had his back to a tree, panting with every breath he took, sweat trickling down his face, but wild defiance in his eyes. Before him stood three of the most talented duelists that the rebellion had to offer, with three more a short distance away, ready to step up when their fellows were too worn out.

Johan had no such back up. If he fell, then he was theirs. From the cold looks in all of those eyes, Ryou suspected Haou's consort would prefer to die.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option today.

"Give up," one of the rebels declared, eyes never leaving Johan. "You're one of us anyone. Haou's just fucked your head over."

Johan snorted, wiping sweat away from his eyes. "You can say what you like, but I'll never betray my master. Kill me if you can, but I'm taking you with me."

The duelists took a step closer, ready to draw. Before they could, Ryou stepped through the bushes. "Fight him and you fight me." His dark gaze bored into the rebels as he came to stand beside Johan. "Do you really think you can do that?"

Seven pairs of eyes stared at him, the rebels no more surprised than Johan himself was. Johan spoke, though. "What the hell are you playing at? I know you, Hell Kaiser. You work with them."

"No more." Hell Kaiser kept his attention on the rebels, filling his voice with contempt. "A bargain, General. I help you here and you take me to see Haou."

Johan's eyes narrowed as they darted between Hell Kaiser and the rebels. Then he nodded. "He'll decide what to do with you." He turned his attention toward the other duelists. "Still want to fight? Against us both?"

Ryou lifted his head and stared at those who he had fought beside only a few moments earlier. There was nothing but death in his gaze now. If it came to that, he would duel them and win. Everything had to be right from this moment on.

"Come on." The leader of this group grumbled, deactivating his duel disk. "We'll have to tell _Edo-sama_ about this."

In moments, Ryou and Johan were the only two in the clearing. Johan slowly deactivated his disk and stared at his unlikely savior. "What do you really want, Hell Kaiser?"

"Just what I said. To go see Haou and offer him my services as a warrior." Ryou spoke with absolute truth. He wanted to do all of that. That just wasn't all that he wanted to do.

Johan said nothing for a few moments, then nodded. "Come along. Once we get to the castle, I'll have to chain you. No one not of the army is allowed unbound into Haou's presence: especially not a known rebel."

Ryou only nodded; he'd expected nothing less. He followed Johan along until they reached the trail Johan had been on before. Johan glanced around, a hint of concern in his eyes, and finally shook his head. "They wiped out the rest of the patrol."

"I think they were trying to kill you in particular," Ryou stated. He knew they weren't, but Johan didn't need to know that, and if he _thought_ that, then so much the better.

Johan said nothing, only started down the trail. Ryou knew from his own experience this would lead, in roughly six hours of travel time, to Haou's castle. Six hours until he stood face to face with the dark monarch who had twisted Johan into a savage parody of his previous self.

Six hours until his life as a spy truly began. Six hours until he knew if he could lie to Haou's face and get away with it. _And if I can't, then six hours until I die._

He started after Johan. The sooner this ended, the better.

**The End**


	47. Only The Beginning

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 47-50: Only The Beginning  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 652  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: writer's choice: war  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

On the wings of Duel Monsters and gossips alike, rumors spread throughout the world. Marufuji Ryou didn't listen to rumors. He preferred facts.

"It's got to be more than just gossip." Fujiwara spoke in his quiet voice, his hands clenching and unclenching around his cup. "I've heard it from more people than Fubuki."

Ryou's lips twitched for a single moment. "That does make it more likely to be true." As much as he liked Fubuki, he would never rely on him as a single source of information about anything.

His eyes narrowed now however. "What else have you heard?" Fujiwara had his issues, but he also had contacts in places Ryou preferred not to think about. Those contacts made him a much more reliable source than Fubuki could ever hope to be.

"He calls himself Haou. Everything I've heard says he's a powerful warrior and he's gathered up an equally powerful army, composed of humans and monsters alike." Fujiwara sipped at his drink, but from the worry in his eyes, tasted nothing of it. "He's already formed a power base in the northern mountains and there are feelers of his army coming down this way as well."

Ryou glanced at his own drink; there wasn't much left of it, and everything he heard gave him little thirst for more. "He'll have to be stopped." He'd long since abandoned the path of respect, but respect meant nothing in the face of world-wild conquest. This was something no one sane wanted.

Fujiwara nodded, his gaze flickering around the room before it stuttered back to Ryou. "There could be others who agree." That didn't surprise Ryou. The hard part would be finding them all and getting organized.

"I know that Fubuki will." Shou would as well. His brother would likely be one of those first in line. There were others he knew in town who would want in on anything they tried. "If we strike hard enough, soon enough, it might be over with soon."

"Then let's do it. We don't need a war around here. Or anywhere else." Fujiwara glanced behind himself as Honest appeared. "What is it?"

"The town's under attack, master," the angelic warrior replied. "They're at the southern edge. Manjoume-san wanted me to let you know."

Ryou was on his feet before Honest finished his message. Moving in tandem, he and Fujiwara headed out of the tavern and toward the southern end of town. Fubuki and Asuka joined them moments later, duel disks on their arms and concern in their eyes.

The closer they drew to the edge of town, the louder the shouts and cries of shock and battle grew. Ryou shuffled his deck on the run and slammed it into his disk, activating it. He searched for an opponent, someone strong enough to make this worth his while.

"Human!" An Axe Raider stepped up, a duel disk on one arm. "Fight me if you dare!"

Ryou's lips thinned. "I suppose you'll do for a start." Axe Raiders weren't pushovers, but he wasn't expecting this to be a hard fight either. Perhaps there would be someone better to battle after this.

As the duel began, he didn't have time to watch what else was going on. Axe Raider was a trifle better than he'd thought and he had to keep his attention on their battle. He did notice a flash of cyan hair a short distance away and wasn't surprised when Shou's opponent fell shortly after Axe Raider did.

Ryou's heart thudded in his chest once everything was over with, excitement coursing through his veins. He hadn't experienced anything like this in ages. The survivors of the attacking force fled, cut down to less than a quarter of their original strength by the defenders.

Ryou glanced to the grim faces of those around him and said what they all needed to hear. "This is just the beginning. They'll be back."

**The End**


	48. First Battle

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 48-50: First Battle  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 675  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: kill  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

With steps as firm as they had been the day he'd been brought before Haou the first time, Hell Kaiser walked up to the dark lord's throne. Haou lounged there as he usually did, Johan to one side, the guards and high ranking warriors of his army in silent rows throughout the room. Hell Kaiser dropped to one knee as he reached the end of the blood-red carpet and bent his head.

"Haou-sama." His voice sounded with every scrap of respect he could scrape up and all Ryou could do was hope that it was sincere enough. So far, all had went according to plan.

Haou didn't move a muscle. "Speak." To the inattentive listener, he might well have sounded bored beyond tears with the trappings of the ritual. Ryou knew better. This would be a powerful triumph for Haou: the fierce Hell Kaiser, long known for his defiance of the monarch's evil, kneeling and pledging his loyalty.

If it were true, then it would have shaken the rebellion to its core. Even as it was, it wouldn't go unnoticed. Not everyone knew his true mission here.

He drew in one breath, then began. "From this moment on, I serve you, Haou-sama. The rebellion is no further concern to me except as enemies. I will kill or spare them as you command."

There had been no rehearsal for any of this. He was just to speak whatever he wished, until Haou silenced him. Ryou decided that was enough. _He won't believe me if I start babbling._ Not to mention that babbling wasn't even in his nature to start with.

"Very well." Haou remained where he was and gestured. From a shadowed corner came two warriors, who dragged a third person between them. "We have here a rebel captive. You, Hell Kaiser, will duel him to the death to prove that your loyalties have truly changed."

There was more than a hint of cruelty in his tone, and Hell Kaiser recognized that right away. There was no other choice for him to make, even if he'd wanted to.

"Kaiser!" He vaguely recognized the prisoner; someone he'd crossed decks with a few times in training duels. The name didn't come to mind though. He must not have been all that memorable. "You can't do this!"

In answer, Hell Kaiser held out one hand. As he expected, one of the waiting servants set his deck into it, and another brought up a duel disk. He settled it on his arm and cast a curious glance at his opponent to be. "Defend yourself."

"You'd really kill me?" The other struggled in Gold and Silver's tight grip as they pushed him forward. A deck and disk dropped down in front of him and he seized them at once before he stared up at Hell Kaiser. "You'd kill me for him?"

Hell Kaiser smiled a slow and twisted smile. "I'd kill you for power." He said nothing more. Let what he didn't say ring more clearly than what he did.

The other stumbled to his feet, hate searing across his features. Ryou didn't care. It wasn't the first time someone hated him for a choice he'd made. He doubted it would be the last.

All of the spectators drew back and Ryou wasn't surprised to see that a duel ring was set into place as they moved. There would be only one survivor coming from this duel. He drew his first cards and got down to the serious business of dueling.

Several agonizing minutes later, his opponent fell, eyes glazed in death, and Ryou put his deck away with utter calmness. Not the first time he'd killed, and not the last, either. Not even close.

He turned toward Haou, one eyebrow elevated with unnerving calmness. The dark lord nodded in scant approval of Ryou's brutal tactics. "You'll be assigned duties shortly." He gestured to a servant. "Show him to his new quarters." Haou glanced back toward Hell Kaiser, his lips thinning for a moment in a cruel smile. "Welcome, Hell Kaiser."

**The End**

**Notes:** Upon research, I learned that Goldd and Sillva's original names are _God of Military Arts of Dark World-Gold_ and _War God of the Dark World-Silver_. Since those are somewhat unwieldy to write on a regular basis, I decided that henceforth, I'll call them Gold and Silver when they appear in my writing. This is the first instance of doing so, hence this author's note.


	49. Encounter

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 49-50: Encounter  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 751  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: reunion  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

There were no celebrations to rejoice in the arrival of a new warrior. Haou expected those of strength who desired power to flock to his banner, and more warriors than Hell Kaiser had done so. True, he was the only one who had betrayed the rebellion in order to do so, but he was still one of many.

Until assigned to a patrol, Ryou had little to do, and he spent his time wandering the castle and learning its ways. He also kept his ears open and his mouth shut, listening for any information, useful or not.

"Hell Kaiser." The voice sent chills down his spine but he refused to show that. For many, many reasons. He glanced up to see Camula, unchanged from when they'd last met years earlier, standing in a doorway. "What a pleasant surprise. I wouldn't have thought you would be here."

He folded his arms over his chest and stared at her. "I would have thought someone would have staked you long ago."

"I'm not so easily disposed of." Camula eyed him up and down, that same possessive gleam to her gaze as she'd had on their last meeting. "What _are_ you doing here?"

He shrugged. If she worked for Haou as well, he would have to put up with her. Maybe he'd get a chance to stake her himself, if all went well.

"I came for power."

Camula's lips curved for a moment. "I could give you all the power you want, Hell Kaiser."

His head lifted high in pride. "You've got nothing that I want, Camula."

Before the conversation could go any further, a soft breath of frosted wind and a firm step caused both of their heads to turn. Haou stood there, Johan a scant step behind him.

"You two know each other?" One eyebrow raised as Haou asked the question. Ryou shrugged.

"We met once. Some years ago." If Camula wanted to go into detail on how she'd almost killed his brother that would be up to her.

Camula's smile was a hideous expression. "I was quite surprised to see him here. I wouldn't have thought this was your preferred sort of company, Hell Kaiser."

"There's a great deal you don't know about me." Ryou replied, keeping his voice as mild as he could, yet with a firm edge of steel in it. _She can't guess the truth. But she'll make me as uncomfortable as she can._ He wasn't going to let her do that.

Haou's gaze flickered between the two of them, his own smile a hint of amusement that sickened Ryou's stomach. "Perhaps you'll tell me more about this meeting one day. But for now, you need to know this, Hell Kaiser. Camula is one of my most trusted warriors, second only to me and Johan."

Ryou bent his head in acknowledgment. That didn't surprise him at all. "I'm certain she's very helpful, Haou-sama."

"Haou-sama has sworn to aid me in reviving my people." Camula all but purred, her eyes gleaming in anticipation. "I have my pick of his captives to become my precious dolls." Her lips curved upward. "You were to have been one of them, had you not seen wisdom."

"I would have expected nothing else from you." Ryou replied, his fists clenching for a moment.

Her smile widened a fraction, her fangs now more visible. "I'm sure you wouldn't. And how is your cute little brother, by the way?"

Again his fists clenched. Haou's attention turned toward him, a twitch of a smile of his own on his lips. "Yes, Hell Kaiser. I've been meaning to ask. How _is_ Shou?"

Frost coated Ryou's spine, but he kept himself calm. "I would presume furious because I chose this path instead of his. I haven't spoken to him in some time."

Haou nodded. "Perhaps that can change one of these days. I would _enjoy_ seeing him again."

"As would I." Camula glanced into the room behind her. "But not tonight, I fear. Tonight I must go hunting." She bent her head toward Haou and swayed her way down the hall.

Ryou knew better than to betray anything by so much as a twitch of his eyelashes. He nodded toward Haou and turned to head back down to his quarters. He almost wished that he could speak to Shou, to find out what he knew about Haou.

That would have to wait, though. He already knew what the subject of his first message to the others would be. _Beware Camula._

**The End**


	50. Last Beat

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Scenes From a Reversal: Bloodpaths: 50-50: Last Beat  
**Character:** Marufuji Ryou  
**Word Count:** 727  
**Genre:** Drama, Supernatural||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Challenge:** 50scenes: Marufuji Ryou: punishment  
**Summary:** Fifty scenes from a story unwritten, with one fact reversed: what happens when the Gentle Darkness is not gentle? Ryou has his own dark tale to live in this world.

* * *

Hunger filled him. He _was_ hunger, nothing more than the desire to tear flesh and see blood flow, to taste that delicious nectar of life and drink it down until there was nothing left.

Hunger and thirst, desire for pain and suffering, wanting to _kill_ and _slaughter_ and sate the unholy burning that filled him from the inside out. That was all that he was, all that he could be, all that he would ever be if he didn't feed.

There was food here somewhere. Prey wandered this area. He remembered a voice that spoke, the voice of the Master, the one who ruled his life.

_You will find your prey here. Play with it, Hell Kaiser. Make it scream._

Yes. He was a hunter and that was what he would do. He smiled, his fangs gleaming in the moonlight, and leaped through the maze, light as mist and quick as thought. His meal was here somewhere; he could _smell_ it, and all he had to do was hunt it down.

He'd done this before. Not in this place, but the memory flickered in the back of his mind. He'd had a wider hunting ground then and many more meals. The scents here spoke of only one. But one would be enough to sate the thirst.

The maze wasn't that big. There weren't many places where his prey could hide. Prey would try, of course. That was what prey did. Hid and tried to survive through another night until a predator swooped down and finished it off for good.

Footsteps. Running, running, just like prey ran to ground, and he wasn't going to let it get away! He leaped upward, landing on a tree branch that overlooked most of the maze, and his eyes fell at once on the figure that darted from shadow to shadow, as if that would make a difference! Lamps lit this maze, giving the prey false hope.

He would not let that last long. There was no use in letting prey think it could get away. Let it understand that the chase was over and he had won. He leaped from branch to branch, paralleling the fleeing of the prey. Lamplight gleamed in the prey's hair, reflecting pale blue, so like his own, but younger, paler, not as strong, not anymore…

If he hadn't been so hungry, he might've paused. As it was, he leaped. Burning thirst ruled his desires that night, and Hell Kaiser brought his prey to the ground, burying his fangs into the exposed throat.

He drank. Oh, how he drank. Blood smeared on his face as he drank and he could hear slurping and knew it for the sound of his feeding.

With a sudden snap his head cleared and he stared down at the prone body on the ground before him. "S…Shou…"

Shou's eyes had not yet totally glazed in death. He stared up at his big brother, hurt of many kinds flickering there. "Nii-san…"

Ryou swallowed, tasting his brother's blood in his mouth. _I can't…I can't let him…_ He reached for his hand. He knew how to do it; Camula had done it to him after all. All he needed was a few drops and Shou would live…or survive.

"Stop." His muscles locked into place. He didn't have to look to see who it was. The voice alone, now that his head was clear of the pounding lust for blood, told him who it was. Haou, soft of foot as always, came around into his view. He glanced down at Shou for a moment, then at Ryou. "You understand, don't you?"

He understood. This was his punishment for attacking Johan: to have killed his own brother in his unending need for blood. He stared down at Shou, wanting to say something, but nothing came to his lips save the sweet taste of blood. Moment by moment, his brother's heartbeat slowed until it finally stopped altogether.

Haou chuckled and Ryou was able to look up enough to see that he held a strange card between his fingers. "He was stronger than I thought. Get rid of that carrion and return to your chambers. You're still not allowed to leave until I tell you otherwise."

He strolled out of the maze without a single glance back. Ryou drew in an unneeded breath and went to obey his orders.

**The End**

**Note:** Well, this is the end of this collection of scenes. I don't know when I'll write the full story, as I have far too many other fics clamoring for attention in 2011. Such as all the ones I didn't do in 2010 but wanted to and all the ones I had ideas for as well.

When I do write it, though, not everything will be as you see it here. Some scenes will be deleted, some rearranged, some rewritten, and some added. This just gave me a way to sort out some ideas and get a few things settled in my head. I hope you enjoyed it, though. Happy New Year!


End file.
